Japan’s delegation to the APEC energy ministers’ meeting in Darwin, Australia, will call on the meeting to agree plans to promote energy savings across industries, Jun Arima, director of the trade ministry’s international affairs division.

APEC energy ministers are meeting in the northern Australian city from May 27-30 to pursue energy-supply security and address climate change. The group, which includes the US, China and Australia, are responsible for 60 percent of global energy demand, Bloomberg.com said.

“We should form a framework that urges each country to set out action plans for improving energy efficiency on a sector basis,“ Arima said. “In so doing, we can work together with the International Energy Agency.“

Details of Japan’s proposals weren’t released, although Armia said increasing use of bio-fuels was one of the planned measures.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government is accelerating efforts to take the lead in the global warming debate, together with the US and China, which are the world’s two largest emitters of so-called greenhouse gases. Japan is seeking measures to achieve the targets set under the Kyoto treaty.

Efficiency Indicators

By joining forces with the Paris-based IEA, an adviser to 26 oil-consuming nations, APEC can develop efficiency indicators that help all the member countries hammer out energy-saving plans and review progress, Arima said. Claude Mandil, the IEA Executive Director, is taking part in the Darwin meeting this week.

“Action plans may be implemented in the sectors such as power generation, transportation, industrial, and residential and commercial,“ Arima said.

The 21 APEC members are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the US and Vietnam.

The Kyoto Protocol, the only international treaty that sets specific targets for emissions reduction, binds 35 nations and the European Union to cutting emissions by 5.2 percent from 1990 levels by 2012. No targets have yet been set for a successor agreement after 2012, although governments are due to meet at a United Nations conference in December in Indonesia to discuss plans to fight global warming. Australia and the US have refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol.

Greenhouse Increase

Japan emitted 8.1 percent more greenhouse gases in the year ended March 31, 2006, than in 1990, according to the environment ministry, led by a 37 percent surge from households and a 42 percent jump from commercial users like office-building owners. Under the treaty, Japan pledged to cut greenhouse gas emission 6 percent by 2012 from the 1990 level.

To meet the region’s energy requirements, the APEC economies will collectively need to invest more than $6 trillion by 2030, Australian Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane said in a statement.

“We will look at how developed and developing countries can meet growing energy demand and secure the supplies of energy they require in a sustainable manner,“ Macfarlane said.

In Darwin, the APEC energy ministers are also discussing clean and efficient production and use in the energy industry, and achieving oil security, particularly in the transport industry, he said.

PIN/ BLOOMBERG