Saskatchewan researchers working on new technologies to address climate change say U.S. President Barack Obama's visit could pay dividends in the province.

During their meetings on Thursday, Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper said they would establish a clean energy dialogue to begin a process that could lead to a North American climate-change treaty. The new environmental initiative will include development of clean energy science and technologies that will reduce greenhouse gases and combat climate change

That bodes well, some say, for work in Saskatchewan on technology that would allow the capture of greenhouse gas emissions for storage underground. The province claims to be a world leader on carbon dioxide capture and sequestration research.

Carolyn Preston, executive director of the Petroleum Technology Research Centre in Regina, said Thursday that work in Saskatchewan could become a model for projects across the continent.

"I would like us to see an action plan for deploying a number of demonstrations across North America to prove that this is a safe technology for storage," Preston said.

Preston is monitoring test projects in Weyburn, Sask., and Midale, Sask., where she said an estimated 14 million tonnes of carbon dioxide have already been channelled underground into depleted oil fields.

"Over the life of the projects, they will store about 40 million tonnes of CO2," Preston said. However, that is only a fraction of what is being produced, she noted. "Our problem is 350 million tons a year in the Prairies."

Preston said she hopes discussions between Canadian and U.S. officials lead to a reduction in the cost of carbon capture, which she said is about $100 dollars per tonnes now.

There are other challenges that need to be addressed, she added.

"We also don't have the pipeline infrastructure to move that C02 from the source where it's currently being emitted to a place we would call a sink, where it can be injected underground," Preston said.