The European Union failed to label oil produced from tar sands as highly polluting in February, with a key vote by member states ending in deadlock.
The issue is seen as a key test of the EU's ability to implement its climate change policies while under heavy pressure from the Canadian Government and oil companies who want to prevent billions of barrels of tar sands oil from being designated as especially harmful to the environment.
Darek Urbaniak at Friends of the Earth Europe said, "Some European Governments have given in to Canadian and oil lobby pressure, instead of saying no to climate-hostile tar sands. High-polluting sources of fuels, such as tar sands, must be cleaned up or kept out of Europe - they are the dirtiest source of transport fuels, and will undermine Europe's ability to reach its climate ambitions."
Joe Oliver, Canada's minister of natural resources, said he was pleased with the result and warned, "If the EU moves ahead in implementing these discriminatory measures, Canada will not hesitate to defend its interests."
The vote by officials needed a majority of about three-quarters to be approved, which would have led to the proposal passing quickly into law. In the event, there were 89 votes for the proposal, 128 against and 128 abstentions, including the UK, which means the decision will be referred to ministers.
The issue has drawn fire on to the UK's transport minister, Norman Baker, whose Liberal Democrat colleagues have likened tar sands to "land mines, blood diamonds and cluster bombs", but whose coalition Government was revealed as giving secret help to Canada. Baker defended the UK's abstention, stating, "We recognise there are big issues with tar sands but equally we did not feel the proposal met the requirement of dealing with other highly polluting crude oils. It was not an all encompassing solution".
Canada's vast tar sands are the second largest reserve of oil after Saudi Arabia and many of Europe's largest oil companies have major interests in the fields. The EU proposal is to label tar sands oil as causing 22% more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional oil on average, because of the extra energy needed to blast the bitumen from the bedrock and refine it. This would make it unattractive to Europe's fuel suppliers who have to cut the impact of their products on global warming and would also set a very unwelcome international precedent for Canada.
The UK proposed an alternative "banded" approach to ascribing carbon emissions to different fuel types, which does not single out tar sands. However, opponents dismiss the proposal as a delaying tactic.
Colin Baines, toxic fuels campaigns manager at the Co-operative, said, "The oil industry must play its fair part in Europe's efforts to address climate change. To give it a free pass to make things worse by ignoring tar sands emissions would be a scandal. It is a positive sign that the UK and France abstained when they had been the subject of such intense lobbying from the oil industry and Canadian Government. We hope they'll move further and support the fair and common sense proposal at the next vote."
