Environment Minister John Baird says going to Paris for an international meeting on Friday will be a chance for him to learn more about the effects of global warming.

A major report on global warming is to be released in Paris on Friday by a group of scientists whose work inspired the Kyoto Protocol.

The scientists are expected to brief foreign ministers, including Baird, in Paris for the release.

"I thought it would be a good opportunity to learn from some of the world's eminent scientists, who are raising additional concerns about the huge effects on our ecosystem and on biodiversity around the globe," Baird said Friday.

Dozens of scientists and bureaucrats were editing the new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in closed-door meetings.

The report must be unanimously approved before being released.

Federal Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said Thursday in question period that Baird will likely embarrass Canada by his presence in Paris.

Dion said Prime Minister Stephen Harper is not interested in making a difference on climate change and would rather "paralyze the world" through his lack of action on the issue.

"Can the prime minister assure us that he is not sending his minister to another United Nations conference to yet again block international efforts to fight climate change?" Dion asked.

Harper responded by saying Dion is "descending into plots and conspiracies theories."

Harper said the Liberals, when they were in charge of the federal government, failed to take real action to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

Chirac expected to seek support for new UN group

French President Jacques Chirac is expected to ask Baird for Canada's support for a new United Nations environmental organization.

Baird's trip to France comes as the subject of climate change dominates question period in the House of Commons. Over the past week, the Tories and Liberals have taken turns blasting each other's environmental records.

On Wednesday, Harper was slammed by the opposition over a letter he wrote five years ago, in which he derided the Kyoto accord.

The 2002 letter described Kyoto as a "socialist scheme" based on "tentative and contradictory scientific evidence" and designed to suck money out of rich countries.

Harper has since said he accepts the science of climate change. But the Tories have said that Canada has no chance of meeting its emissions targets under the Kyoto accord and must set more realistic goals for reducing greenhouse gases.

The international agreement requires Canada to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to six per cent below 1990 levels by 2012. But since 1990, emissions have gone up, with the latest figures showing an increase of almost 30 per cent.

With files from the Associated Press