APP
On 28 July 2005, the Australian Government along with counterparts from China, Japan, India, South Korea and the United States of America - announced the formation of the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate. The Partnership brings together key developing and developed countries in the region to address the challenges of climate change, energy security and air pollution in a way that is designed to promote economic development and reduce poverty. [read more]
On 12 January 2006 Ministers from Australia, China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea and the United States launched the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP), at the inaugural Ministerial meeting in Sydney. Ministers agreed a Charter, Communiqué, Work Plan and Vision that outlined a ground-breaking new model of private-public taskforces to address climate change, energy security and air pollution.
On 15 October, 2007, during the 2nd Ministerial meeting in New Delhi, India - the founding members of the Partnership welcomed Canada as the seventh official Partner. Canada's inauguration was included in the second Communiqué.
The 3rd Ministerial meeting was held on 27 October 2009 in Shanghai, China. Discussions at this meeting focused on ‘the future of the APP program’. In particular, members were presented with the findings and recommendations from the Australian-led APP Flagship Review, which was the first review of its kind agreed to by Partner Countries. The Policy and Implementation Committee (PIC) is expected to make a decision on the review’s recommendations at the next meeting.
A copy of the Communiqué and Flagship Review report (in English, Simplified Chinese, Japanese and Korean) is available to download.
A Policy and Implementation Committee (PIC) and an Administrative Support Group (ASG) has been formed to facilitate implementation of the Partnership. The PIC will govern the overall framework, policies, and procedures of the Partnership, periodically review progress of collaboration, and provide direction to the ASG.
The APP Fact Sheet contains further information about the APP and the organisational structure.
Work under the Partnership commenced immediately after the joint Ministerial meeting in Sydney, Australia in January 2006. Discussions were set to establish the eight task forces, draft action plans and milestone deliverables. Arising from this meeting was the official Charter, Work plan, Vision and Sydney Communiqué.
The first Policy and Implementation Meeting (PIC) and Task Force Meetings were held on 18-21 April, 2006 in Berkeley, California, USA. At this meeting, Task Forces were provided with draft operating procedures, and tasked to develop comprehensive Action Plans including potential projects.
The second PIC meeting held in JeJu, Korea in October 2006 endorsed the Action Plans.
Subsequent PIC meetings held were used to provide updates on existing projects and to approval new projects. Other PIC meetings held include:
The ninth PIC meeting is scheduled for the second half of 2010 in Japan, followed by the tenth meeting in South Korea. Details will be confirmed closer to the date.
The Administrative Support Group serves as the principal coordinator of the Partnership’s communications and activities. The United States Government has agreed to serve initially as the Partnership’s Administrative Support Group and this arrangement will be reviewed at two year intervals.
At the 2nd Ministerial meeting in New Delhi, India on 15 October, 2007 it was agreed that the United States of America would continue in this role for the following two years.
The APP International Structure [PDF, 76KB] contains further information about the APP International Governance Arrangements.
At the Inaugural Meeting of the APP a Work Plan was developed focusing on power generation and distribution, as well as key industry sectors of partner economies. Eight public-private sector Task Forces were established covering:
Further information about the APP can be obtained via relevant websites listed in the Related Websites page.