A study released in Sydney on Wednesday proposes "a multi-track" process to tackle the issue of climate change.
"Pro-development, 'Multi-Track' process to reduce emissions could help forge regional collaboration toward progress at global talks," said the study titled "Building a Pro-Development Strategy on Climate Change" by World Growth, a United States-based non-governmental organization.
Alan Oxley, the author of the study, said in a news release on the study that the proposal would allow economies to develop more customized strategies to reduce emissions while preserving economic development programs and progress toward eliminating poverty.
The study was released when the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is holding its annual Leaders' Week in Australia's Sydney. Climate change is one of the topics in the meeting's agenda.
Oxley, who is also the chairman of World Growth and chairman of the national APEC Center at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, said the study would allow for each APEC economy to work out a suitable strategy to tackle climate change.
The proposed new framework could include Kyoto-style mandatory cuts of emission, adopting new technologies, improving efficient energy consumption, or any combination of approaches, the author said.
Unlike proposals which divided the region, he said, the multi-track model supports a development dimension, allowing for economies to have continued economic growth to raise "the bottom billion" out of poverty.
He added that the process could bring the United States, China, Japan, Australia, South Korea and other economies of the region closer together on a consensus toward how to address climate change.
"They (the APEC economies) are looking for real progress without self harm for the people, and that is what the multi-track process offers," said Oxley.
By focusing more on a process model first, he said, the APEC region could find greater agreement, consensus and could bring momentum to the global effort.
"An APEC regional consensus would be a very good start towards real progress," said the author.
