APEC - a step forward or just so much hot air?

Some say that the APEC meeting in Sydney was a huge success, others moot that its outputs, as least as far as climate change mitigation are concerned, are no more than a load of hot air.

As reported by Reuters, many environmental groups have labeled Australian Prime Minister John Howard's 'Sydney Declaration' useless; "Green groups immediately dismissed the 'Sydney distraction' as so much hot air adding to the warming of the globe." Although some level of agreement appears to have been reached, the final declaration wording is "voluntary and non-binding", so it seems to permit some of the planet's worst emitters to carry on regardless.

What I thought quite funny was Dubya's accidental referral to 'OPEC' rather than 'APEC'; he obviously still has oil on his mind in a big way.

And it was interesting to note that the biggest amount of international media coverage was not for the Sydney Declaration itself, but for the stunt pulled by ABC TV's staff:-

"Posing as the Canadian delegation, members of ABC TV's The Chaser show drove a 'motorcade' through two checkpoints to within metres of Bush's hotel -- one of them made up to look like Osama bin Laden, and the designation 'Insecurity' written on their convention passes. Police arrested 11 of them".