In mid July, 2005, Canada announced it was joining with 15 other nations to cut emissions of the greenhouse gas, methane. The Methane to Markets Partnership is an international organization formed by Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, South Korea, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States. The group's goal is to reduce methane emissions by 2015 by 50 million metric tones of carbon equivalent, or recovery of 500 billion cubic feet of natural gas. The group believes that such a reduction will successfully stabilize or reduce global atmosphere concentrations of the greenhouse gas. This would be equivalent to cutting emission of 33 million cars, planting 55 million acres of trees, eliminating emissions from 50 500-megawatt coal-fired power plants, or providing enough energy to heat approximately 7.2 million homes for a year.

“By participating in this exciting international initiative, Canada will have the opportunity to promote and market Canadian expertise in the area of methane emissions-reducing technologies, particularly in the oil and gas sector. Our participation in the Methane to Markets Partnership demonstrates Canada's commitment to both technology transfer and technology deployment as a way of achieving global greenhouse gas reductions,” said Canadian Minister of the Environment Stéphane Dion.

Learn more about the Methane to Markets Partnership by visiting www.epa.gov/methanetomarkets.