Canberra, April 1 (AP): Climate change will be a top priority at a Pacific Rim leaders' summit in September, Australia's prime minister, who will chair the meeting, said on Saturday.

The Prime Minister, John Howard, said he has written to the other 20 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum _ including powerhouses the United States, Japan and China _ advising that climate change and clean development will be key topics for the Sydney meeting.

The last APEC leaders' summit, held in Hanoi in November, ordered a report to the Sydney meeting on ways that a rapid growth in demand for energy could be met while minimizing environmental effects.

``We now need to give practical effect to that instruction,'' Howard said in a statement.

Energy demand across APEC _ which accounts for a third of the world's population and 60 percent of its fuel consumption _ is projected to double by 2030.

Australia is ranked as the world's worst greenhouse gas emitter per capita, largely due to its heavy reliance on coal-fired power stations.

Howard refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions, arguing that to do so could cost Australian jobs because neither China nor India were held to carbon pollution reduction targets.