In terms of anything concrete coming out of the government’s presence at COP28, Premier Scott Moe points to the agreement of 24 countries to triple the nuclear power footprint in the world.

He says Saskatchewan has a role to play in that advancement and not just in fueling the reactors but more recently the province’s involvement in actual nuclear power and nuclear delivery services.

In terms of nuclear reactors, it is expected the world will move from having 400 today to likely a thousand to 1,200 in the future.

Premier Moe spoke to reporters in Saskatchewan from Dubai Wednesday morning.

In terms of other news coming out of COP28, you may have heard of the Global Institute for Water Security and the Global Institute for Food Security, both of which are housed at the University of Saskatchewan, but now there is a Global Institute for Energy, Mines and Society.

Wednesday Saskatchewan Polytechnic, the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Regina signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that establishes a framework for collaboration on the new Saskatchewan-based institution.

According to the news release from the government with collaboration “these post-secondary institutions hope to rapidly advance provincial research and innovation in the areas of mining, energy and critical minerals.” Dr. Peter Stoicheff, President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Saskatchewan says one of their goals is to better meet industry needs with state-of-the-art research and development that also provides training and hands on learning to help build the provincial workforce in fields applicable to energy and mines.

The MOU was signed in the Saskatchewan Pavilion at the COP28 conference in Dubai.