[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 36 (Monday, September 10, 2007)]
[Pages 1175-1177]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Joint Statement by President George W. Bush and Prime Minister John 
Howard of Australia on Climate Change and Energy

September 5, 2007

    1. Prime Minister Howard and President Bush agreed today on the 
importance of confronting the interlinked challenges of climate change, 
energy security and clean development.
    2. Australia and the United States are committed to working together 
to find effective solutions. They are working to ensure that the energy 
on which both economies depend remains reliable, affordable and secure 
by

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promoting efficiency and diversification of supply.
    3. Australia and the United States have consistently championed the 
importance of practical action. The key to comprehensive global action 
on climate change is to ensure that measures to reduce emissions are 
consistent with economic growth, poverty alleviation and improvements in 
living standards.
    4. Australia and the United States look forward to working actively 
and constructively with all countries at the UN Climate Change 
Conference in Indonesia in December, with a view to achieve a post-2012 
agreement that provides for effective action from all the major emitting 
nations toward the UNFCCC objective of stabilizing greenhouse gas 
concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous 
anthropogenic interference with the climate system. The APEC Leaders' 
Declaration on Climate Change, Energy Security and Sustainable 
Development will be a significant step forward in efforts to forge a new 
international framework.
    5. Australia welcomed the initiative by the United States to launch 
a series of meetings on future global action on climate change and looks 
forward to participating in the first Major Economies Meeting on Energy 
Security and Climate Change in Washington DC on 27-28 September 2007. 
Both countries believe this process will make a major contribution to 
the negotiation of a post-2012 framework.
    6. Both countries highlighted that a key objective of the Major 
Economies Meeting would be to work toward a consensus on a long-term 
global goal for reducing emissions. Such a goal will provide a basis for 
accelerated and concerted action at the national and international level 
over the coming years. It underlines the importance of viewing action on 
climate change with a long-term perspective.
    7. Together with appropriate policy tools, the development and 
deployment of low emission technologies will be a key element in 
addressing the climate change challenge in the medium- to longer-term. 
The Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate is a major 
initiative that was co-founded by Australia and the United States to 
drive technology cooperation. Working together, the six members--
Australia, China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United 
States--have made substantial progress since the establishment of the 
Partnership in Sydney in January 2006. The Partnership has initiated 
more than 100 practical projects in the areas of clean fossil energy, 
aluminum, coal mining, renewable energy, power generation, cement, 
buildings and appliances, and steel.
    8. Both countries agree that reducing emissions from deforestation 
is a key component of global action on climate change. The United States 
welcomed Australia's action in launching the Global Initiative on 
Forests and Climate, announced by Prime Minister Howard in March 2007, 
and was pleased to participate in the recent High-Level Meeting in 
Sydney of 63 countries to take forward cooperation under the Initiative.
    9. We also agreed to support multilateral action to liberalize trade 
in environmental goods and services.
    10. Australia expressed its interest in participating in the 
Generation IV International Forum (GIF), which is a partnership of 
governments working on fourth generation nuclear power plant technology. 
The GIF reflects the common interest that many countries share in 
advanced research and development in this field. The United States 
expressed its support for Australian membership in the GIF.
    11. In acknowledgment of the important contribution nuclear power 
can make in meeting energy needs and addressing the challenge of climate 
change, Australia and the United States agree on enhancing bilateral 
civilian nuclear cooperation and supporting the Global Nuclear Energy 
Partnership (GNEP). GNEP is a multilateral initiative the United States 
launched to expand the safe and secure use of zero-carbon emission 
nuclear energy worldwide. The United States welcomes Australia's 
participation in the Ministerial GNEP meeting to be held later this 
month in Vienna, Austria. The two countries also finalised a joint 
action plan for civil nuclear energy cooperation, including on research 
and development, regulatory issues, and skills and technical training.

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    12. Australia and the United States will continue to work closely to 
advance energy security and climate change issues internationally 
through other multilateral partnerships, including the Carbon 
Sequestration Leadership Forum, the Methane to Markets Partnership, the 
Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership and the International 
Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy.
    13. Important work has also been accomplished bilaterally under the 
auspices of the Australia-United States Climate Action Partnership and 
both countries are committed to further action. Progress has been made 
in the areas of climate change science and monitoring, agriculture and 
forestry, approaches to managing High Global Warming Potential Gases 
(synthetic greenhouse gases) and policy tools and approaches to 
addressing climate change.
    14. We will also endeavor under the Montreal Protocol to ensure the 
recovery of the ozone layer to pre-1980 levels by accelerating the 
phase-out of HCFCs in a way that supports energy efficiency and climate 
change objectives. We will continue to exercise leadership in the 
development of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).
    15. The recently-concluded Australia-United States Agreement 
relating to Scientific and Technical Cooperation will promote 
collaboration between scientists in both countries on world-leading 
research and technology development, including in the area of climate 
change.
    16. In recognition of the importance of global action on climate 
change and energy, the United States welcomes Australia's participation 
in the FutureGen International Partnership, a major United States-led 
international project aimed at building a prototype plant that 
integrates coal gasification and carbon capture and storage to produce 
electricity with near-zero emissions. This demonstrates and underscores 
the commitment of both countries to the development and deployment of 
clean coal technologies.

Note: An original was not available for verification of the content of 
this joint statement.