Environment committee  Technology has grown quite a bit over the last number of years, and it's really been the focus of the industry to get better data and monitoring. Right now, still, I would say the best way to monitor is through the taking of soil samples and water samples adjacent to farms.

Environment committee  Absolutely. We use the nitrous oxide emission reduction protocol from the Alberta government plus the conservation cropping protocol. We work with growers on executing that protocol, which promotes higher nutrient use efficiency. Through that measurement we can pay them a price utilizing the federal carbon price for their greenhouse gas reductions and/or removals.

Environment committee  Mike, do you want to take this one?

Environment committee  Certainly, the incentive infrastructure in the U.S. is very strong. I know the Canadian government and other governments around the world have tried to step up in ways similar to what the U.S. has done. The regulatory burden, we feel, will always exist. To some extent, it's greater in other countries than it is in Canada, and to many extents, it's less burdensome as well.

Environment committee  Thank you. Yes, in fertilizer production, water is pretty critical for our industrial processes in nitrogen and phosphate manufacturing. In mining, it's less so. It's a closed-loop system that we use in potash mining. What's very important is the fact that fresh water is available at the start of our process.

Environment committee  Some are federal, but they're mostly provincial.

Environment committee  Sure. We've demonstrated this through our sustainable agricultural programs, particularly with nitrogen management and utilizing the federal price on carbon to incentivize growers to shift their practices and become more nutrient efficient by rewarding them through that price on carbon and the amount of greenhouse gas reductions that can be modelled and measured on the field.

Environment committee  We haven't broken ground on a nitrogen site or mine site for many years in Canada. Obviously, there are significant regulatory issues and approvals that would need to be created. What we do know, though, is that our strategy is to utilize our brownfield sites for production expansion.

Environment committee  That is a great question. The regulatory burden obviously exists, but again, our strategy is around working with the assets that we do have, in line with our market demands.

Environment committee  In every country we operate in, regulatory requirements are significant, and it takes many years for us to go through that process. What works well is, for example, what's happening in the United States with the Inflation Reduction Act incentives to stimulate growth in sectors where we operate.

Environment committee  Sure. They are highly voluntary, but I'd like to pass it to my colleague, Mike, who runs these programs.

Environment committee  Yes, it is.

Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the introduction and the invitation to appear today. Mike and I are joining you from Calgary. I'd like to honour our company's practice by acknowledging that we come to you from Treaty No. 7 territory. I'll start with a few words about Nutrien, now the world's largest producer and provider of crop inputs and services.