Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate meet today

The second ministerial meeting of the Asia-Pacific Partnership (APP) on Clean Development and Climate will begin here today.

New Delhi, Oct 15 : The second ministerial meeting of the Asia-Pacific Partnership (APP) on Clean Development and Climate will begin here today.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will give the inaugural address. Namo Narayan Meena, Minister of State for Environment and Forests will read the communiqué and propose its adoption.

Ministers of six nations, India, the US, China, Japan, Australia and South Korea, will attend the meeting.

Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said, "Together, these six countries represent about half of the world's economy, population and energy use. The purpose of partnerships is to advance clean development and climate objectives through voluntary cooperation among ourselves for accelerated development and the deployment of cleaner, more efficient and cost-effective technologies."

The APP is dedicated to tackling climate change through cleaner energy technologies without sacrificing economic progress.

The APP has generated interest in countries like Canada.

The meet comes even as the United Nations is about to hold a key meeting in Bali city, later this year to decide whether to extend or replace the 10-year-old Kyoto Protocol and look beyond post-2012 emission-cut commitments.

Rich nations and major developing nations such as China, India and Brazil are under pressure to agree to targeted emission cuts, and to start talks on shaping the next phase of the Kyoto Protocol climate pact.

The Kyoto Protocol is being seen as the first step to fend off projections of ever-increasing heatwaves, floods and rising seas linked to rising emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly from burning fossil fuels.

It obliges 35 rich nations to cut emission of greenhouse gases by five percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

Unlike the Kyoto Protocol, the APP does not include mandatory reduction targets for greenhouse gas emissions, which has led to criticism from various critics around the world.

Countries like China and India have been criticised by the West for refusing to commit to emissions targets, despite being amongst the world's top greenhouse gas emitters.

India, whose economy has grown annually by eight to nine percent in recent years, contributes around foru percent of global greenhouse gas emissions as its consumption of fossil fuels gathers pace.

New Delhi says it must use more energy to lift its population out of poverty, something rich nations -- which have burnt fossil fuels unhindered for a century -- should understand.

But the United States, which is one of the biggest polluters in the world, says it will not commit to emission targets until India and China do.

ANI