APEC business forum starts in Darwin
Monday, 28 May, 2007
The Age
Monday's meeting, to be followed on Tuesday by the formal meeting of ministers from 21 Asia-Pacific economies, concentrated on ways to 'green' new and old energy resources, before selling them to governments and the public.
Rio Tinto mining executive Andy Lloyd told the gathering there was not a one size fits all approach to climate change and increasing energy demands.
"The scale of the challenge is so large that all forms of primary energy will be required to satisfy this need, including coal," he said.
One of the solutions flagged by Mr Lloyd was the development of a hydrogen power project in WA by Rio Tinto and British-based energy group BP.
It would reduce carbon emissions by injecting the bio-product - CO2 - into the sea bed, preventing it from re-entering the carbon cycle.
"We need to think around this work and ensure the building blocks are in place," he said.
But Professor George Dracoulis, who worked on a government task force considering a nuclear industry in Australia, said nuclear power created waste that would "ultimately just fade away".
"We can ask the question: is uranium going to make or break Australia as an exporter?" he said.
"The industry, since the accidents of the late 70s has had a wake-up call, there is new information sharing, uniform operational training and full scale simulators ...
"The world is watching nuclear power and nuclear power is watching itself."
Prof Dracoulis also stressed the need for uniform rules on uranium prospecting and mining nationwide.
"We need a single national regulator, investment needs a stable policy environment," he said, adding that if this were to happen Australia could match France, which built 57 reactors in five years.
"If we want to do it we can do it."
Speaking ahead of Tuesday's meeting, which he will chair, Federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane said it was important to recognise the important role business played in the APEC energy sector.
"Governments can't do this on their own, so we need to engage business," he said, adding that energy was a key to economic development in the region.
"APEC economies will collectively need to invest more than $US6 trillion ($A7.3 trillion) by 2030 to meet their energy requirements...
"How they do this whilst ensuring energy security and sustainability will be a key focus."
The meeting of energy ministers would also discuss how emissions from energy use could be lowered.
"We will look at how developed and developing countries can meet growing energy demands and secure the supplies of energy they require in a sustainable manner," he said.
The APEC region accounts for more than 60 per cent of world energy demand and includes the world's three biggest energy users - China, the US and Russia.
Northern Territory Chief Minister Clare Martin said the decision to hold the event in the territory's capital reflected Darwin's growing reputation as an international gas export hub.
"The LNG industry is now well and truly part of the territory landscape," she said as she welcomed more than 200 APEC ministers and delegates to the three-day event.
But Australia's major environment groups have united on the eve of the ministerial meeting to call for the rejection of old, dirty and unaffordable energy technologies.
Emma King, from the Environment Centre of the NT, said coal-fired power stations were no longer an acceptable energy source while Imogen Zethoven from The Wilderness Society said time was "running out".
"After decades of campaigning to get governments and the community to accept and act on climate change we urge APEC energy ministers to reject the nuclear furphy," she said.
Friends of the Earth's Jim Green said "going nuclear to address global warming is like taking up smoking as a weight-loss remedy".