Canada, Mexico and the United States Show Progress on North American Energy Collaboration

In support of the objectives of the 7th Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) and inaugural Mission Innovation Ministerial in San Francisco, the Honourable Jim Carr, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, Pedro Joaquín Coldwell, Mexico’s Secretary of Energy, and Dr. Ernest Moniz, United States’ Secretary of Energy, reviewed their cooperative efforts underway to foster sustainable energy development, address climate change, and encourage economic growth.

The Clean Energy Ministerial and first official Mission Innovation Ministerial come just over one hundred days after Secretary Moniz, Minister Carr, and Secretary Joaquín Coldwell met in Winnipeg and signed the Memorandum of Understanding Concerning Climate Change and Energy Collaboration. The meetings in San Francisco provide an opportunity to recognize the collective progress made to date by our three countries in advancing our mutual clean energy and climate objectives, including:

• Accelerating investments in clean energy research and development by announcing each of our countries’ plans for doubling these investments over the next five years, as part of the Mission Innovation initiative.
• Identifying shared North American priorities for collaboration on clean energy innovation technologies.
• Advancing North American economic competitiveness by recruiting companies to implement the ISO 50001 standard to improve energy efficiency in industry. As part of CEM’s Energy Management Campaign our countries will provide companies with the tools and training resources to facilitate implementation of the standard.
• Launching the North American Renewable Integration Study to better understand the planning and operational impacts of integrating growing renewable energy sources, such as solar, hydro and wind, into our electricity grids.
• Further advancing clean energy, energy innovation, and the shift towards a low-carbon economy by continuing their support for the CEM Clean Energy Solutions Center (including RETScreen services, a multi-language software used globally to evaluate energy costs, savings, and emissions), and the CEM7 Technology Showcase.

This work by Mexico, the United States and Canada will also support the upcoming North American Leaders’ Summit in Ottawa on June 29. The three countries share a common vision of accelerating clean energy development to address climate change and energy security. Working together to advance clean growth by building on North America’s strengths as a global energy leader is essential as we transition towards a low carbon economy.