President Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper meet in Canada and discussed various topics, but two of the specific topics they discussed were clean energy and cap and trade legislation to control greenhouse gas emissions.
On clean energy, the two pledged to send representatives of both countries to establish the Clean Energy Dialog that would include the following topics:
- Clean Energy research and development;
- Development and deployment of clean energy technology, including carbon capture and storage
- Building a more efficient electrical grid and promoting renewable energy.
The issue of carbon capture and storage is of particular importance as the Canadians would like to develop the tar sands of Alberta and a less costly carbon capture and storage approach is necessary to produce this resource while reducing the carbon dioxide emissions from the process of extracting and processing the tar sands.
The two leaders also discussed developing a cap and trade program, that both support. President Obama recognized the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a manner that takes into account the current economic conditions.
