Now where’s the market? (Image: Jonathan Blair/CORBIS)
BAD year for Canada’s tar sands. The US rejected the Keystone XL pipeline that would have carried fuel south, and now the European Union is poised to label tar bitumen more polluting than other forms of oil. That would rule out selling it to Europe.
The will – from production to use – by 6 per cent by the end of 2020. Suppliers will have to , and current footprints will have to shrink.
The emissions from extracting and processing tar sands are larger than for regular oil (). The EU proposes labelling them as producing 22 per cent more emissions overall than conventional oil. Its fuel quality commission , before the European Parliament makes the final decision.
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Tar sands are dirty, but there’s not enough to cause a climate calamity, says . Canada has the largest reserve of economically viable tar sands – 170 billion barrels – and burning it all would raise global temperatures by just 0.03 °C ().
Regardless, “any means countries can take to wean themselves off fossil fuels should be encouraged”, says Swart. He supports the EU plan.
