Released on November 15, 2002
A national scientific organization has given its stamp of approval to aninnovative project spearheaded by Saskatchewan Environment and SaskPower
that will offset greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Saskatchewan.
The Greenhouse Emission Reduction Trading pilot project (GERT) has endorsed
a plan initiated by Saskatchewan Environment/SaskPower in 1999 to invest $6
million over 5 years in a two-phase project that will:
Establish more than 500,000 hectares of forest carbon reserves -
existing forests that will be left unharvested, and
Result in the planting of approximately 5 million seedlings in
northern forests. Three million of these seedlings have already
been planted.
"Scientists from across Canada involved in the GERT pilot project have
agreed that the innovative collaboration between Saskatchewan Environment
and SaskPower to protect and expand forests can play an important role in
addressing the issue of climate change. This is the first project of its
kind in Canada to receive this type of endorsement," Saskatoon Greystone
MLA and Legislative Secretary for Energy Conservation to Premier Calvert
Peter Prebble said. "Pursuing this and other meaningful ways to combat
climate change is an issue of high priority for the provincial government,
as the adverse impacts of climate change will be felt by generations to
come."
This was the first Canadian forest sequestration project to be subjected to
a rigorous review by GERT, which is a multi-stakeholder partnership that
evaluates GHG emission reduction projects and trading. The project, which
began in 1999, will generate 22 million tonnes of carbon dioxide offsets
when it is complete. Both parties have signed a contract transferring the
carbon dioxide credits from Saskatchewan Environment to SaskPower.
SaskPower will use these offsets to help meet the corporation's future
emission reduction obligations. Offsets describe activities that
compensate for an activity that produces greenhouse gas emissions, and are
outside the normal scope of operations.
"Joining forces with Saskatchewan Environment in this project reflects
SaskPower's strategy to pursue innovative collaborations and partnerships
that will help reduce the environmental impact of its operations as much as
possible," SaskPower Planning, Environment and Regulatory Affairs Vice
President Rick Patrick said. "This project is just one of many actions
outlined in the corporate Climate Change Action Plan, which presents our
short-term strategy to rely on offsets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."
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For more information, contact:
Larry Christie Al Willcocks
SaskPower Saskatchewan Environment
Phone: (306) 566-3167 Phone: (306) 953-2486
Toll-free: (888) 536-0000