Suzuki Foundation and Pembina Institute available for comment on Western Climate Initiative recommendations and meeting

Wed, 2008-07-23 02:00.

By: David Suzuki Foundation

The David Suzuki Foundation and the Pembina Institute will be available to brief journalists on the upcoming Western Climate Initiative (WCI) meeting on July 29 in San Diego. The Western Climate Initiative is a regional effort to reduce emissions between several U.S. states and Canadian provinces, including B.C., Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. A background document on the upcoming meeting and the key questions still facing the WCI is available here.

The July 29 meeting in San Diego follows meetings in Portland and Salt Lake City, and will be an opportunity to present and discuss the next iteration of the WCI’s recommendations (which are expected to be released this week). With Ontario joining the WCI last week, the federal government’s current approach to climate change policy has been soundly rejected as insufficient. The WCI's proposed cap-and-trade system now represents one of the key policy planks for four provinces accounting for 79% of Canada’s population and 49% of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Once implemented, the regulations to cap and reduce industrial emissions will be a key part of provincial action on climate change. The cap-and-trade system will also be the first of its kind in North America for greenhouse gas emissions and could form the blueprint for broader action on global warming throughout North America.

For more information, contact:

Matt Horne

Acting director of B.C. energy solutions

Pembina Institute

Cell: 778-235-1476

Nick Heap

Climate change policy analyst

David Suzuki Foundation

Cell: 778-991-4392

Sarah Marchildon

Communications specialist

David Suzuki Foundation