12 February 2016: Canada, Mexico and the US have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Climate Change and Energy Collaboration, which sets out six areas of cooperation and information-sharing among the three countries. The energy ministers of the three countries also launched an online platform for the purpose of providing easy access to relevant North American data from a single website.

The MoU was signed during the North American Energy Ministers Meeting, held on 12 February 2016, in Winnipeg, Canada. It sets out as part of its purpose “addressing climate change associated with energy production, transmission, and use” to further commitments under the UNFCCC and working bilaterally and through complementary mechanisms, such as the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF), the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM), and the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas. The MoU also looks to accelerate clean energy innovation as an “indispensable part of an effective, long-term global response to our shared climate challenge.”

The six areas for collaboration laid out in the MoU are: the development of reliable, resilient and low-carbon electricity grids; innovation of clean energy technologies, including renewables; energy efficiency for equipment, appliances, industries and buildings, including energy management systems; carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS); climate change adaptation and resilience; and reducing emissions from the oil and gas sector, including methane and black carbon.

The envisioned activities under the MoU include virtual or in-person consultations, workshops and conferences, personnel exchanges, and information sharing, and the MoU participants also aim to include non-State actors in these events and knowledge sharing. The countries will each finance their respective activities undertaken in support of the MoU.

The web platform, which fulfills work begun in 2014 on energy information sharing among the three countries, links directly to the data on the ministries’ websites. According to Natural Resources Canada, the information includes: static and interactive North American energy infrastructure maps; a combined North American energy outlook; data tables and methodological guides for comparing the energy trade of the countries; and a glossary of terms and definitions. [Natural Resources Canada Press Release] [Mexican Ministry of Energy Press Release] [North American Data Sharing Website] [MoU among the US Department of Energy, the Department of Natural Resources of Canada and the Ministry of Energy of Mexico Concerning Climate Change and Energy Collaboration]