Free Market "Anti-Kyoto" Talks

It's a dubious honor: Together, they produce 40 percent of the world's greenhouse gases.

The US, China, India, Australia, South Korea And Japan are meeting today in the inaugural summit of the Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development. Says the other CSM:

Unlike the Kyoto Protocol, which sets emissions targets for nations, the new Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate aims to reduce emissions voluntarily through the transfer of emerging technologies - including "clean coal," burial of carbon dioxide, and next-generation nuclear power - from industrialized nations to the developing world.

The pact's advocates argue it is a more realistic approach than Kyoto, and commits many of the major nations not yet bound by Kyoto quotas to at least the principle of reducing emissions. The effectiveness of this effort, however, may ride on whether the high-tech systems can be developed fast enough and made commercially enticing for businesses not otherwise compelled to adopt greener methods.

Regulation nuts say the Partnership's voluntary approach has no teeth and is destined to fail. I'm more of a technology freak and a free enterprise freak, and I agree more with Ian Macfarlane, Australia's Minister for Industry:

"While Kyoto puddles on nicely, the real reductions will come from technology. This is not a diplomatic love-in. It's a hard-edged business plan with targets and reporting duties."

"Puddles on" ... "diplomatic love-in." God bless those Aussies!