By Rob Taylor

CANBERRA, May 21 (Reuters) - Australia said on Monday a regional carbon emissions trading scheme including China and the United States was years away, despite planning to seek backing for the idea at a September meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders.

As host of this year's APEC summit in Sydney, to be attended by U.S. President George W. Bush, Prime Minister John Howard is backing a "Sydney declaration" on a scheme placing a price on carbon emissions.

But Foreign Minister Alexander Downer played down the significance of the push and said regional change would be gradual, with Washington and Beijing yet to show interest in an international emissions trading scheme.

"The prospects of setting up an emissions trading scheme in the short term are not very bright," Downer told reporters in Canberra. "This has to be looked at in context of the broader idea of setting up a global emissions trading scheme through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change."

Australia, like close ally the United States, refuses to sign the Kyoto Protocol setting caps on greenhouse gas emissions, and has called for a global scheme to replace "Old Kyoto".

But with his conservative government facing a tough re-election battle late in the year, and polls showing most Australians want more action to combat global warming, Howard is under pressure to change climate course and reverse months of sliding popularity.

Australia hopes to build gradual support for an emissions trading scheme through the six-nation Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, which draws together Australia, China, the United States, Japan, South Korea and India. Environmentalists call them the "pack of polluters".

Howard is expecting a carbon trading report from a government task force at the end of May. Its findings will feed into the agenda for the APEC summit, which will bring together the leaders of 21 countries over three days in Sydney.

APEC economies, including China, Russia, the United States and Japan, are responsible for 60 per cent of global energy consumption.

Downer said Australia hoped the APEC summit would back climate change initiatives, including Howard's preferred "practical" measures to fight climate change, notably clean coal and solar technology.

Howard has always refused to sign up to Kyoto, arguing it would unfairly harm Australia's energy-export reliant economy, while forcing no concurrent emission reductions from developing countries such as China and India.

Howard wrote to other APEC leaders in March putting climate change on the Sydney agenda. He expects other regional countries to eventually become involved in the new emissions trading scheme, including some European nations.

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