Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
I am joined here in the room by a couple of colleagues: David McGovern, whom I think you know, the assistant deputy minister, international, at Environment Canada; and Keith Christie, who is the director general, environment, energy, and sustainable development at Foreign Affairs.
If I can, I'll just give you a very quick overview in terms of what I think are the salient points, the results achieved by Canada and by the G8 community at Heiligendamm, which is the place where the summit took place, and then I'd be most happy to take any questions.
This year at Heiligendamm the G8 achieved consensus on a way forward on the challenge of climate change. Leaders emphasized the importance of engaging all major emitters of greenhouse gases in discussions to tackle climate change, including their commitment to participate in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in December 2007 in Indonesia, with their view to achieving a comprehensive agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012.
Leaders recognized that climate change is a global problem that requires a global response and that we share a long-term vision of the need to accelerate our action to achieve deep reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. Notably, G8 leaders recognized Canada's plan to reduce emissions by 60% to 70% by 2050 over 2006 levels, as set out in our new domestic plan of action on climate change.
The G8 achieved consensus on a way forward to combat climate change. G8 countries emphasized the importance of engaging all major emitters in the fight against climate change, including their commitment to participate in the UN Convention...