CHARTS: The coming critical minerals trade war is BRICS short of a load
"While a large number of countries around the world continue to talk about securing raw material supply, China is actually doing something about it."
In the midst of intense lobbying from Canada, a committee of the European Union Parliament blocked passage of a proposed fuel quality directive that would label Canada’s oil sands as a more carbon-intensive source of oil than conventional crude, reports The Globe and Mail.
Proponents of the ruling against Alberta’s main natural resource failed to win a majority of votes in favour, but neither was there a majority to kill the proposal. A committee of EU ministers will now take up the proposed directive.
The measure, supported by environmentally minded factions of the EU and elsewhere, intended to brand the cost of extracting oil from the oil sands as a process that produces significantly more carbon emissions and uses much more water than other methods, reports The Mark.
It’s part of an initiative to get European oil marketers to reduce the level of emissions in fuel sold domestically. As such, the move would make it more expensive to use Canadian bitumen.
On Tuesday, Canada threatened the European Union with action at the World Trade Organization if the bloc’s plan to classify oil sands crude as more harmful to the environment than other fuels were to go ahead.
Canada’s Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver told Reuters that the lack of agreement in the EU was “a resounding win” as well as a “victory for science and good policy.”
