APEC Leader Declaration Agrees To Accelerate Climate Resilience Development

Indonesian President Joko Widodo (right) and Peru President Dina Bouarte (left) held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in San Francisco, USA, Thursday (16/11/2023). (ANTARA/HO-Biro Press of the Secretariat of the President of the Republic of Indonesia)

JAKARTA - Leaders of the 2023 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in San Francisco agreed to strengthen their cooperation in several areas, one of which is accelerating the development of resilience to climate change.

Leaders from 21 APEC members gathered in San Francisco, California, United States on November 16-17, led by the US as host. The 2023 APEC declaration highlights that the world is currently facing major challenges due to climate change, reads APEC 2023's declaration quoted from the APEC Secretariat website.

"We recognize that more intensive efforts are needed for APEC members to accelerate the clean, sustainable, fair, affordable, and inclusive energy transition in various ways," reported by ANTARA, Saturday, November 18.

APEC leaders also said they would seek to create decent jobs, encourage investment, economic growth, and ensure energy, security, resilience, and access in the Asia-Pacific region.

They emphasize the need to rationalize and abolish fossil fuel subsidies that are inefficient because they can encourage wasteful energy consumption. Leaders are also aware of the importance of providing energy access that is important for everyone in need.

"To achieve this goal, we will continue our efforts quickly," he said.

APEC leaders are committed to globally increasing renewable energy capacity to triple by 2030, by utilizing existing policies and targets. Likewise by showing similar ambitions for zero and low emission technology.

"We will pursue our efforts to increase the energy transition to zero- and low-emission vehicles; sustainable aircraft fuel; low-emission ships, and port decarbonization."

In addition to accelerating resilience to climate change and encouraging energy transition, the 2023 APEC Declaration also emphasizes the importance of creating a path for MSMEs to grow and expand to regional and global markets, as well as accelerating the digital transformation of MSMEs.

APEC consists of 21 countries and territories, including Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Peru, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, USA, and Vietnam.

The 21 APEC members took a 40 percent portion of the global population and nearly 50 percent of the total global trade.