A leader of Canada's Indigenous peoples gave a dramatic eyewitness account of the environmental and social devastation associated with mining tar sands at the world's biggest tourism fair today.
Representatives from Canada's First Nations and Friends of the Earth Europe are at the Berlin ITB expo to protest about the destruction of Canada's natural environment and publicise the dangers of tar sands expansion.
Brussels/Paris/Amsterdam, February 23, 2012 – Representatives from European governments met today to vote on plans to keep tar sands out of Europe, but intense lobby pressure from Canada and the oil industry has brought about a stalemate, according to Friends of the Earth Europe. [1]
Abstentions and rejections from a number of European governments means the final decision will be taken by the Environment Council in June.
Brussels/Paris/Amsterdam, February 22, 2012 – European governments must say no to the dirtiest forms of unconventional oil tomorrow, and defy pressure from both the Canadian and big oil lobbies, according to Friends of the Earth Europe. Representatives from European governments will decide tomorrow on plans to keep tar sands out of Europe.
Brussels, February 16 – Eight Nobel Peace Prize laureates have written to European Heads of State and Ministers of the Environment urging them to tackle the most climate polluting sources of transport fuel, notably tar sands.
Oil produced from highly polluting sources, such as tar sands and coal-to-liquids, causes far more climate damaging emissions than conventional oil. Tar sand extraction in Canada has destroyed pristine wilderness areas and has had devastating impacts on local communities and aboriginal groups.
Brussels, Tuesday October 4 – Friends of the Earth Europe has welcomed a decision by the European Commission to take steps to prevent oil from tar sands entering the European market.
The European Commission has announced it will assign higher carbon emission values to oil from tar sands than to other sources of fossil fuels in the Fuel Quality Directive - the EU initiative aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels. [1]
Brussels, 5 August 2011 - The government of Canada is engaging in an unprecedented lobby effort to open up the European market to oil from its devastating tar sands, an investigation by Friends of the Earth Europe reveals. [1]
A detailed 'diary' compiled by Friends of the Earth shows the extent of Canadian efforts to block EU plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels.
Brussels, March 16, 2011 – The EU will today come under renewed pressure to effectively ban the world's most climate polluting transport fuel from Europe. A coalition of environmental organisations has been campaigning for the European Union's Fuel Quality Directive to address the significantly higher greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) resulting from tar sands oil, which would effectively stop the controversial fuel, primarily produced in Alberta, Canada entering Europe.
Brussels, January 17 – European and Canadian civil society groups joined together today outside Canada-EU free trade talks to give a clear warning to the public and negotiators that increasing Europe's involvement in the Canadian tar sands is unacceptable.
Brussels, May 5 – On the day of an EU-Canada summit, a new report [1] released by Friends of the Earth Europe warns that global development of tar sands [2] will magnify the climate crisis and damage the EU's environment and development objectives.
Brussels/London, March 29 – A new initiative allowing citizens across Europe to express concerns over oil industry investment in tar sands was launched today amid warnings that the European Commission is set to sabotage its own efforts to limit the climate change impacts of the fossil fuel industry.