Top UK Climate Diplomat - Chances Of Success For US "Alternative" To Kyoto "Slight"

[hatrack]

CANBERRA (Reuters) - A six-nation alliance of big polluters drawing in China, Japan, the U.S. and India was not the answer to the search for a wider post-Kyoto pact to combat global warming, Britain's top climate diplomat said on Tuesday.

The American-led Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate, which also includes Australia and South Korea, was formed in July 2005 and aims to use technology, rather than binding Kyoto-style caps, to limit greenhouse emissions.

Australia, one of the world's biggest per capita greenhouse gas emitters, has called the partnership a model for a past-Kyoto deal drawing together both developing and advanced economies.

But John Ashton, Britain's Special Representative on Climate Change, said the six nations had little in common, making the chances of meaningful cooperation slight. "I think I have to raise a slight eyebrow at whether it really is a sort of natural regional grouping," Ashton told Reuters in an interview during a visit to Australia. "If you're looking at regional economies ranging from Australia to India to Japan, there is perhaps more diversity than there is in common across those economies."

EDIT

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070228/ts_nm/climatechange_ashton_dc_1;_ylt=AjPsI3h.jpmvr8WM8d2dCctrAlMA

[eppur_se_muova]

1. "Partnership for Clean Development and Climate" = Orwellian doublespeak nt