Simon Dyer — Dec 11, 2009

While Pembina’s climate team is on the ground in Copenhagen, my participation, like that of most Canadians, has been mostly through watching and listening to the TV and radio reports that highlight the rough ride Canada is receiving. And the oil sands feature prominently in those criticisms.

Today the oil sands were the subject of an open letter from members of the European Parliament to the CEOs and board chairs of Shell, BP, Statoil and Total — European companies operating in the Alberta oil sands.

Citing the large and growing greenhouse gas impacts of oil sands operations, the European leaders are speaking out because, they say, “Canada is one of the last industrialized countries not committed to mitigate climate change.” Their letter calls on the business leaders “to consider the future of our planet and to cease [their] tar sands activities in Alberta.”

It seems that part of the relentless criticism of the oil sands and the calls to cease expansions or shut it down completely stem from the fact that Alberta and Canada haven’t got a credible plan in place. Our governments need to show how the oil sands industry will do its fair share to reduce emissions.

The media chatter about whether the attention received by the oil sands  is “fair” or “disproportionate” is actually a bit of a diversion: the attention on the oil sands is a symptom of Canada’s failure to meet its international obligations. Defending an industry projected to triple its greenhouse gas emissions at a conference designed to map out deep pollution cuts is a tough sales job for Canadian and Albertan politicians. And that’s as it should be.