Monday, March 14, 2016

Canada - U.S. agreement on climate, energy, and Arctic protection

Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Barack Obama issued a statement  about agreement to take joint steps to fight climate change, including cutting methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, collaborating on expanding wind, solar and other renewable energy sources, and protecting the Arctic. Two countries will work together to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40 to 45% below 2012 levels by 2025.
To achieve such a high target, new restrictions would have to be applied to mid-stream and downstream aspects of the industry, such as power plants, transmission lines, pipelines that are connecting upstream development to gas plants and any leakages along the supply chain. According to IPCC, methane represents about one-sixth of the global GHG emissions. Canada and the U.S. will also cooperate to implement the historic Paris Agreement on Climate Change, including respective Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). Read more at