AMERICAN VIEW - SUMMER 2008

Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development & Climate (APP)

The U.S.-led APP is one of the key multilateral partnerships in which Japan and the U.S. cooperate in addressing climate change. Launched in early 2006, the APP is a voluntary collaboration among seven nations: Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the United States. These countries have come together to pursue the integrated goals of advancing energy security, fostering economic growth, mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, and reducing air pollution. They seek to achieve these goals through the development, deployment, and commercialization of clean energy technologies. Examples include cooperating to standardize energy-efficient lighting; transforming waste to fuel in cement kilns; promoting the deployment of solar power; and boosting the use of cleaner steel technologies.

The APP generates results where they matter most - in the countries that are the world's major emitters of greenhouse gases. The six Partnership nations together account for about half of the world's economic output, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions. That the Partnership involves China and India is especially important, for developing countries' emissions are forecast to surpass those of developed countries in a matter of years. Consequently, the APP's charter calls for addressing energy security and climate change in a manner complementary to each country's economic development.

Another innovative and particularly important aspect of the APP is that it is a public-private partnership, bringing together not just the government and private sector within each country but also among them. That cross-cutting approach advances the Partnership's goals through cooperative design and implementation of tangible, effective projects.