(Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) – In a Declaration issued today, APEC's Energy Ministers have set down directions to advance energy security, improve energy efficiency and increase the clean energy supply in the APEC region.

New initiatives prescribed by the Energy Ministers include:

• a Collaborative Assessment of Standards and Testing (CAST) scheme to boost trade and investment in energy efficient appliances;
• a Nuclear Power Emissions Reduction Potential Study to assess the potential for nuclear power to reduce carbon emissions in interested APEC economies;
• an APEC Smart Grid Initiative to evaluate the potential of smart grids to support the integration of intermittent renewable energies and energy management approaches in buildings and industry; and
• the Low Carbon Model Town Project aimed at developing best practices to achieve low-emissions urban communities.

Additional tasks have been assigned to APEC's Energy Working Group (EWG) including: to work with the International Energy Agency to improve the region's oil and gas energy emergency response capacity; to contribute to initiatives that reduce energy commodity market volatility; to evaluate the potential of unconventional sources of natural gas and biofuels; and to promote the development and take-up of low-emission power sources (renewable, nuclear and fossil-fuels with carbon capture and sequestration)

Ministers have further instructed the EWG to recommend a larger energy intensity reduction target for the APEC region, given that the goal set in 2007 of a 25 percent reduction by 2030 is likely to be far surpassed.

The Declaration also reiterates APEC's commitment to rationalising and phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption.

The full text of the Fukui Declaration on Low Carbon Paths to Energy Security: Cooperative Energy Solutions for a Sustainable APEC issued at the conclusion of the Ninth Meeting of APEC Energy Ministers may be accessed at:

www.apec.org/apec/ministerial_statements/sectoral_ministerial/energy/2010_energy.html