Classifying tar sands as ultra-high carbon would produce large carbon savings - report
Wed 22 May 2013
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A new report by Carbon Matters and CE Delft says that the European Commission is right to classify oil from tar sands as much more carbon-intensive than conventional fuels and that doing so could save emissions of up to 19 million tonnes of CO2 every year – equivalent, according to T&E, to taking 7 million cars off the roads.
The study, commissioned by T&E, undermines claims by the oil industry that the proposal to implement the EU Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) will only lead to global ‘reshuffling’ of different crudes but not reduce global greenhouse gas emission.
These savings would come, according to the report, in addition to the 50-60 million tonnes of CO2 that will be saved by meeting FQD’s 6% target.
The FQD was agreed four years ago, and set fuel producers a target to reduce the carbon intensity of their fuels by 6% between 2010 and 2020. To put this target in place, the Commission was mandated to propose a methodology to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels. This meant giving fuels ‘default values’ that reflect their carbon intensity, that is, greenhouse gas emissions associated with their production and combustion.
The Commission proposed that the value for fuels extracted from tar sands should be 23% higher than the values for petrol and diesel made from conventional crude oil. T&E says this was due to have been approved by now, but large scale lobbying by Canada – the world’s leading tar sands producer – and some oil companies has prevented agreement being reached among the 27 EU member states. Thus, the issue is still undecided and currently undergoing an impact assessment.
T&E clean fuels manager Nusa Urbancic said: "Scientific studies have repeatedly shown that extracting oil from tar sands takes up so much more energy than pumping conventional oil, so it is entirely legitimate to label tar sands oil as ultra-high carbon. This new study not only confirms that, but it shows that recognising these higher-carbon footprints in the Fuel Quality Directive will shift investments towards lower-carbon alternatives, leading to additional emissions savings. This should fuel the Commission’s determination to stick to its proposal, as doing so will send a strong signal to investors that fuels made from tar sands will not be competitive in a continent that’s serious about tackling climate change."
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