Thank you very much. I'm happy to respond to that.
On your first question, we believe that simply access to international markets for emissions trading provides an additional supply of instruments for the compliance use of Canadian firms. So it is really a matter of increasing the supply available to Canadian companies, and hopefully keeping the costs reasonable for those who must use those instruments to comply.
All things being equal, we are stronger supporters of a viable domestic emissions trading market and would do business there if it were in existence. We intend to do that in the future. But we believe the international market, including north-south possibilities with the United States, is a worthwhile objective. It provides the right kind of marketplace for emission reduction instruments to be developed, purchased, and used, so we are supporters of that.
On your second question, TransAlta has been preparing for a carbon-constrained future for over a decade. We have a four-part strategy that we've been following to prepare ourselves for carbon constraints. One of the pillars of that strategy is the development of an emissions offset portfolio. As you correctly point out, we have been very active in the international market since 1996 in identifying viable, strong projects. My view is that the projects we invest in are definitely not labelled with the term “hot air”.
We look for viable instruments in the clean development mechanism, a mechanism from the Kyoto Protocol that has very stringent rigour associated with it. We apply additional rigour, from our company's perspective. So we feel that the investments we've made to date in international instruments are solid, verifiable, and would be received well in any country as a viable instrument for emissions reduction. We will continue to look internationally for opportunities as well as domestically, once that market is available.