Leading Canadian Economist to Tell Europeans about the Climate Impacts of the Tar Sands

One of Canada’s top economists is traveling to Europe to warn them about the environmental impacts of the tar sands. Simon Fraser economist Dr. Mark Jaccard has worked with governments in Canada and the US to fashion climate policies. He suggested that the emissions reduction efforts by governments around the world will make it increasingly difficult to find markets for Canadian crude derived from tar sands.

He is also warning that current efforts to expand Canada’s tar sands could leave billions of dollars in stranded assets, including pipelines like TransCanada Corp.’s proposed Keystone XL

Dr. Jaccard will travel to Europe with former NASA scientist James Hansen to jointly urge governments to pass a measure that describes Canada’s tar sands as dirty and imposes a tax. They will visit Brussels, Berlin, Paris and London, and will address parliamentary committees of the British parliament and the EU parliament.

Dr. Jaccard called the Harper government “hypocritical” in claiming to want to keep global temperatures from increasing by more than 2 degrees while pursuing expansion of one of the most carbon-intensive sources of fuel in the world.

Dr. Jaccard was among 12 scientists and researchers who sent a letter to the Canadian Natural Resources Minister questioning his commitment to tackling climate change and urging him to back-off plans to expand the countries exploitation of the tar sands.

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