The first meeting of a new six-nation partnership called the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate has opened in Sydney.
The partnership, known as AP6 for short, aims to make progress on tackling global warming by promoting technological solutions.
Its members include the United States and Australia, which have rejected the UN's Kyoto Protocol. The other members are China, India, Japan and South Korea.
The six account for nearly half of global greenhouse gas emissions.
However, environmentalists claim that the meeting, which is also being attended by representatives of some of the world's largest energy firms, will do little to promote a change of thinking.
