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UK firms catch heat from Canada’s tar sands
anti-tar sands protests in Canada – photo by anitasarkeesian (source: Flickr Creative Commons)
British companies with financial ties to Canada’s controversial tar sands oil operations will face considerable pressure this week from UK environmental lobbies and investors with ethical concerns.
The tar sands of Alberta, Canada are the world’s largest deposits of bitumen, a heavy, black form of crude oil extracted via surface mining. Generally considered to be of more harm to the environment than conventional oil drilling, tar sand mining has taken a heavy toll on Alberta’s air, land, water, wildlife and people.
According to an article in the Guardian, ethical and environmental groups opposed to British investment in the tar sands include the Co-operative, the Fair Pensions lobby group, Friends of the Earth and Platform.
The Co-operative and the Fair Pensions lobby group are releasing a special briefing paper designed to counter recent statements by the oil companies that sought to justify their involvement in carbon-intensive oil extraction in Alberta on the basis that it was needed to meet rising oil demand.
–Guardian
These groups – along with concerned shareholders – intend to turn an annual meeting between BP, Shell and Royal Bank of Scotland into a referendum on their involvement with tar sands mining operations.
by Graham Land
Additional resources:
World Development Movement – RBS protests announced over controversial tar sands investments
BBC News – Campaign on tar sands extraction targets oil investors
Tags: Alberta, British, Canada, Co-operative, environmental, ethical, Fair Pensions, Guardian, mining, oil, tar sands, UK
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Thanks for the link, Outraged!
Banks involved in the tar sands are gonna start feeling the heat too! check out this new report: ‘Cashing in on Tar Sands: RBS, UK banks and Canadian “blood oil”’ http://bit.ly/9NJDOR
RBS and UK banks are financing 17 % of Canadian tar sands expansion – meanwhile indigenous groups are trying to stop it from happening at all.