READOUT: Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, met with her U.K. counterparts to discuss climate action

LONDON, United Kingdom, Oct. 11, 2017 /CNW/ - Canada's Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, met today with United Kingdom Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Michael Gove, and Minister of State for Climate Change and Industry, Claire Perry.

Minister McKenna and Secretary of State Gove had a productive discussion on how Canada and the United Kingdom (U.K.) can advance environmental protection and climate action internationally.

During her bilateral meeting with Minister of State Perry, Minister McKenna applauded the U.K.'s initiative to phase-out traditional coal power generation by 2025, putting both Canada and the U.K. at the forefront of global efforts. They discussed cooperation in the area of carbon capture, utilization and storage. They discussed both countries' commitment to the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, which can prevent up to half a degree Celsius in global temperature increase, and promoting its implementation worldwide ahead of the Meeting of the Parties next month.

All parties agreed to work together to advance the partnership on clean growth and climate change announced by the Prime Ministers of the two countries a few weeks ago, and reasserted their commitment to the Paris Agreement in the lead up to the 23^rd session of the Conference of the Parties (CoP23) in Bonn, Germany, in November.

The U.K. is one of Canada's most important bilateral partners and we will continue to work with partners to take decisive and joint action now to tackle the many urgent challenges of our changing climate.

SOURCE Environment and Climate Change Canada