May 25, 2015 Mérida, Mexico Natural Resources Canada
The Honourable Greg Rickford, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources; Ernest J. Moniz, United States Secretary of Energy; and Pedro Joaquín-Coldwell, Mexico Secretary of Energy, today announced the creation of the North American Energy Ministers’ Working Group on Climate Change and Energy.
Today’s announcement took place during the third official meeting of North American energy leaders in Mérida, Mexico. With today’s milestone, Canada, the United States and Mexico will prioritize collaboration in the following areas:
- reliable, resilient and low-carbon electricity grids;
- the modelling and deployment of clean energy technologies, including renewables;
- energy efficiency for equipment, appliances, industries and buildings, including energy management systems;
- carbon capture, use and storage;
- climate change adaptation and resilience; and
- emissions from the oil and gas sector, including methane and black carbon.
Today’s milestone builds on previous enhanced continental cooperation on energy and the environment announced in December 2014:
- developing North American energy public data, statistics and the continental mapping of commodities and infrastructure;
- responsible and sustainable best practices for the development of unconventional oil and natural gas; and
- modern, resilient energy infrastructure for North America in all aspects — physical infrastructure as well as institutional infrastructure such as policies, regulations, workforce, innovation, practices to promote energy-efficient goods and services, and sustainable technologies.
Work in these areas is now in the advanced stages. In discussions with his counterparts, Minister Rickford highlighted Canada’s growing contribution to global energy security and its commitment to pursuing a continental approach on energy security and climate change.
North America is seizing every opportunity to harmonize efforts and policies toward common climate goals while protecting jobs and the economy.
Quick Facts
- Last December, during their first meeting in Washington, D.C., the ministers signed a Memorandum of Understanding formalizing trilateral cooperation for greater cooperation and integration with the goal of attaining North American energy security.
- Canada and the U.S. have already harmonized environmental standards ranging from vehicle emissions to home energy efficiency.
- In 2013, Canada's GHG emissions were 3.1 percent lower than 2005 levels while the economy grew by 12.9 percent over the same time period.
- Between 2005 and 2014, Canadian crude exports increased by 81 percent, and Canada has begun supplying oil to eight new markets including Italy, the United Kingdom, Norway, France, Spain and Ireland.
- Canada is the fifth-largest natural gas producer in the world, with marketable resources of up to 44 trillion cubic metres. Canada has the third-largest reserves of crude oil in the world, including 167 billion barrels in Canada's oil sands alone, and is the fifth-largest producer.
Quotes
The Honourable Greg Rickford
Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources
Associated Links
Joint News Release on New Continental Climate Change and Energy Collaboration
Contacts
Chris McCluskey
Director of Communications
Office of Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources
613-996-2007
or
Media Relations
Natural Resources Canada
Ottawa
613-992-4447
The general public may contact:
Mon.–Fri., 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. EDT
Telephone: 613-995-0947
E-mail: questions@nrcan.gc.ca
Follow us on Twitter: @NRCan (http://twitter.com/nrcan)
NRCan’s news releases and backgrounders are available at www.nrcan.gc.ca/media
