The United States believes that great progress can be made by working with other nations to advance the related objectives of improving economic and energy security, alleviating poverty, improving human health, reducing harmful air pollution, and addressing the long-term problem of climate change.
In July 2005, President Bush announced that the United States was joining with Australia, China, India, Japan and the Republic of Korea in the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate. The Partnership is an innovative U.S. -led effort to accelerate the development and deployment of clean energy technologies through a voluntary public-private partnership among six major Asia-Pacific nations. Together, Partner countries account for about half of the world's population and more than half of the world's economy and energy use. (For more information about the Partnership's vision, please refer to the Vision Statement.)
Ministers from the six Partner countries held an inaugural meeting in January 2006 in Sydney, Australia. At this time, Partners agreed to a Communiqué, Charter, and Work Plan calling for the development of Task Forces to formulate sustainable solutions to our shared challenges through practical approaches in eight key sectors:
Task Forces are staffed by up to four official members per country, from both the government and private sector, representing broader national and sectoral interests.
The Partnership's Policy and Implementation Committee (PIC) met for a second time in conjunction with the first meeting of the Task Forces, in April 2006 in Berkeley, California, to initiate the work of the Task Forces. Over three hundred participants, representing the six Partner countries' industry, government, and research institutions, met and began a collaborative process to outline objectives and identify projects in each sectoral area.
Task Forces met independently in the following months to develop Action Plans, which were endorsed by the PIC at their third meeting, held in October 2006 in Korea. The PIC also reviewed nearly 100 projects related to the Action Plans; these projects will be further refined and implemented by the Partners. The eight Action Plans are the product of the Task Forces' initial collaborative efforts to detail both immediate- and mid-term specific actions and projects. This signals the start of the implementation phase of an ongoing series of programs designed to implement cleaner, cost-effective energy technologies and practices among the Partner countries. The programs focus on sharing best practices, identifying legal, regulatory and market barriers, and research and development, and include several demonstration projects.
Page Last Modified: August 7, 2008
