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Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault
The Federal Minister of the Environment has completed a two-day tour of Washington during which he hammered home the need for a global agreement to halt the “alarming rate” of biodiversity loss .
Steven Guilbeault met with several organizations that campaign for the environment as well as elected officials during this first official visit to the American capital as responsible for environmental issues within the Trudeau government.
He particularly underlined the importance of the next United Nations meeting on biodiversity to be held in December in Montreal.
Several of the people met expressed an interest in participating in this meeting, he mentioned at a press conference on Tuesday.
The purpose of these discussions was to strengthen the relationship between the two countries, for example on issues of energy, electrification of transport, conservation or endangered species, and not to put pressure on the United States, clarified Mr. Guilbeault .
This is a visit where the objectives were to see how we can maintain and even improve the collaboration we have on many of these subjects, he explained.
The minister was not discouraged by the impact that a recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States could have on the reduction of greenhouse gases. A ruling handed down at the end of June limits the powers of the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate emissions from coal-fired power plants.
However, the Minister believes that the agency will be able to continue to regulate mercury emissions present in coal or polluting emissions from vehicles, for example, since the highest court prohibits it rather from intervening outside the powers that the law already confers on it.
Mr. Guilbeault also argued that the market helps make renewable energy more attractive with a lower production cost than conventional energy.
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