Ottawa, Ontario – The Government of Canada is committed to working with international partners to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To this end, on March 14, 2013, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault of France announced the signing of an agreement on collaboration to explore the potential for commercially cultivated microalgae to safely and effectively remove certain greenhouse gases from industrial emissions.
The agreement will facilitate coordination between the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), a leading European technological research organization in France.
The agreement will leverage the extensive complementary expertise of the NRC and the CEA, and generate detailed studies with a goal of gaining a better understanding of how microalgae can assimilate nitrogen from industrial emissions. This will ultimately drive near-term applications of new technologies to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from industrial sites.
In July 2008, Prime Minister Harper and former French Prime Minister François Fillon witnessed the signing of a NRC and CEA Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), to formalize their mutual interest in stimulating collaboration. Since then, diverse activities have taken place between the two organizations in a variety of areas including ultrafast physics, advanced materials and renewable energy.
About the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives
The Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives, or CEA, is a public body created in 1945 to provide France with the means to develop atomic energy for a range of different applications in science, industry and national defence. A key player in research, innovation and development, the CEA operates in three main areas: energy, defence and security; and health and information technologies.
About the National Research Council
The National Research Council (NRC) is the Government of Canada's premier organization for research and development. NRC partners with Canadian industry to take research impacts from the lab to the marketplace, where people can experience the benefits. This market-driven focus delivers innovation faster, enhances people's lives and addresses some of the world’s most pressing problems. The NRC is responsive, creative and uniquely placed to partner with Canadian industry, to invest in strategic research and development programming that will address critical issues for our future.
