“This transaction proves international emission trading works,” says Dr. Bob Page, TransAlta’s vice-president of Sustainable Development. “It shows the Canadian government a way to help meet Canada’s Kyoto obligations by lowering global carbon levels at minimal cost to Canadian energy consumers.”

In an emission reduction trade, a company or an organization that can absorb or reduce greenhouse gases, sells emission credits to another organization that needs them anywhere in the world. The result is a financial incentive to reduce emissions and a net reduction in global concentrations of carbon dioxide. In this case, TransAlta had emission reductions to sell as a result of upgrades to its U.S. operations.

“The beauty of emission trading is that it allows companies to reduce their emissions immediately while they develop the technology necessary for long-term reductions at the source,” adds Dr. Page. “International emission reduction trading is going to be a vital element in any plan for a long-term solution to climate change.”

In March 2000, TransAlta unveiled a proposal to reduce its Canadian net emissions of greenhouse gas to zero by 2024. The proposal, titled "Beyond Kyoto", shows how a combination of new technology, renewable resources, emission trading and offsets can achieve emission reductions well beyond the Kyoto target.

Copies of the proposal can be downloaded from TransAlta’s website at http://www.transalta.com

TransAlta is an international electric energy company with more than $6.6 billion in assets. The company is focused on achieving strong earnings growth and enhancing its competitive edge as a low-cost operator of generation and transmission assets, and a successful developer of gas-fired independent power projects. The company is concentrating its growth in Canada, the United States, Australia and Mexico. TransAlta owns and operates more than 8,000 megawatts of generation plus significant transmission assets in Alberta.

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