Thank you Klaus.
Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen.
I welcome this
opportunity to discuss where we are going with Kyoto and the climate change
issue.I sense that Kyoto will not be
implemented. Either Russia or the United States must ratify to put it into
effect. Neither is showing much enthusiasm for it. That does not mean our
interest in and concern with climate change will go away.
Many strongly
believe it is happening. Others say it is not. There is an ongoing
investigation into the reality of climate change led by the United Nations.
That study will go on. Another report is due in 2007 which may remove some of
the uncertainty.
I’ve been
involved with Canada’s National Climate Change Process since early 1998. We
were asked to put aside any doubts we might have about the reality of climate
change and focus on what Canada could do to mange atmospheric greenhouse
gases.
I think Kyoto
has strayed from its original goal set in 1997. We will review the reasons
for that. Then we will again assume that further climate study confirms we
need to act. We will consider what we might do to integrate energy production
and use with management of atmospheric greenhouse gases – based on
consideration of the carbon cycled by life on earth.