Al Ferraby: We go live to South Africa. Half way around the world, that's where we find BC's Environment Minister Terry Lake who joins us live.

Minister Lake, I guess it's good evening to you where you are, isn't it?

Terry Lake: It certainly is, Al. It's evening here and a bit of a misty, rainy evening, too, which is quite unusual.

Ferraby: Give me an update as to what you are experiencing at the climate change talks that are taking place in Durban, South Africa.

Lake: Well, we've been here all week, and they're talking about what British Columbia is doing on climate action, and not surprisingly very many people that are working in this field are very aware of what's going on in British Columbia, and we've been looking for opportunities to learn from other jurisdictions and also find out what they're doing and as we look towards the Asia-Pacific particularly we're finding that increasingly this is an area of huge interest to Australia, to China, to Korea. Many of the people in countries that BC and Canada will be dealing with more and more in the future are very engaged on the climate action file and looking at a carbon pricing economy.

Ferraby: Are you seeing a lot in your discussions with those in Asia-Pacific countries, a lot of similarities in regards to, let's say, like, our province's position on greenhouse gases, for example?

Lake: Oh, absolutely. You know, I mentioned so many jurisdictions now that are putting a price on carbon. Australia is a good example. They've just instituted a $23 Australian carbon tax. Now, they are phasing it in by giving some allowances, but essentially this is going to cover a large part of their economy. And they're very similar to British Columbia in that they're very heavily dependent on resource extraction. They've got many of the same challenges we do and also some of the same opportunities through natural gas production and particularly the exportation of liquefied natural gas.

We met with Dr Banerjee today who's the director of climate change for the Australian government, and we learned a lot of the things they're doing certainly can apply to British Columbia, and they, of course, base their carbon tax in part on what we've been doing right back home in BC. So a great exchange of ideas and tremendous opportunities.

China, for instance, they are going big into green technology and also looking at emissions trading systems. Guangdong province is doing that now. They expect that that will probably go across the country in 2015, and as one of our growing trade partners it's very important that BC be aware of what they're doing around a low-carbon economy so that we can be in line with them and make sure that we are taking advantage. Liquefied natural gas, for instance, is a great substitution fuel for China to displace coal and help them with their greenhouse gas reductions.

Ferraby: You mentioned carbon tax and other countries' stance on that. Is it something that you'll take back? I know there's a lot of talk about reviewing the future of carbon tax in British Columbia for example.

Lake: Yeah. There's different ways of pricing carbon. It can be a simple, broad-based tax like we have in BC, and if you talk to economists, that is the very best instrument to use if you want to incentivize a low-carbon economy. But there's very few governments around the world that have the desire to put in a carbon tax because politically you have to be very brave to do that. You know, we're very proud in British Columbia that the people of BC have supported that by and large, but other governments are pricing carbon in various ways. Whether it's through a cap-and-trade system or by regulation of greenhouse gases, it still, in effect, puts a price on carbon but not in such a direct, transparent and broad way as British Columbia. So a lot of jurisdictions are very inquisitive about how we were able to do that and they realize that maybe they can't do it but they can get to it with other instruments that I mentioned before.

Ferraby: Terry, are you hearing any feedback on Canada's stance on the Kyoto Accord?

Lake: Well, certainly that's a big topic of conversation around the conference. People certainly have not been asking me too much about it. They know we're from British Columbia and that our sphere of influence is directly to represent the people of British Columbia. But I think whatever happens here, whether there's an agreement or no agreement or whatever the various stands are, it's very clear to me that people around the world want to do something about reducing greenhouse gas emission because they see it not only in their minds it's the right thing to do but also there are great opportunities around a low-carbon economy, and early adopters and incentivizing those clean technology companies is just good business sense.

There's a lot of talk about what the future holds, and a lot of that is not necessarily tied to a Kyoto agreement or any other sort of international agreement; it's around getting to economic development through green technologies.

Ferraby: Thanks for your time, Minister Lake. We'll talk again.