US joins six-nation climate pact

The United States has signed on to a six-nation climate pact that includes several Asian countries and Australia. The Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate doesn't have the same catchy name as the Kyoto treaty, but it serves sort of the same purpose - to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. How will this affect the auto market? Not one bit, at least not in the near term, because the agreement sets no firm quotas on CO2 emissions. Starting in November, the half-dozen countries involved (China, India, S. Korea, and Japan in addition to the aforementioned) will meet to form a "charter", which I guess will form the framework for some chest-thumping about clean energy sources that don't exist yet, and how we're going to transfer our knowledge of this vaporware to the developing world. OK, so maybe I'm being a bit harsh, but at least I stopped short of calling it a "Machiavellian pact".