The discussion around international offsets is an important and lively one in the present global negotiations. Under the current rules, it's a legitimate policy choice for countries to look to make purchases of international offsets. In fact, under the plan announced in 2007 and the final regulatory framework in 2008, we anticipated allowing firms to purchase up to 10% of their regulatory requirement from approved CDM, clean development mechanism, projects.
The broader question going forward in the negotiations, as we look for broad global action, is the question of options for scaling up offset mechanisms. We also need to know whether countries will agree that this is going to be the most effective way of going forward. Many developing countries are increasingly raising questions about the viability of international offsets at a time when they themselves are looking to put in place measures to take action.
Clearly, whatever countries do, they have to think their way through their pathway and the policy choices that will drive the technological change needed to achieve these very deep reductions. In Canada's case, given the structure of our industry, the government has made it clear that it wishes to focus on domestic action. It wishes to drive those technological changes now, because it will only become more difficult to do so down the road. Many other countries are exploring ways in which to make significant use of international offsets. This is an important discussion in the negotiations.