Europe abandons ‘dirty’ label for Canadian oil sands

The European Union decided Tuesday against labeling oil sands as a fuel that emits high levels of pollution.

The proposal from the European Commission represents a major victory for Canada, which had lobbied against the label to remove a barrier to exporting oil sands to Europe, Reuters reported.

{mosads}EU officials told Reuters that they wanted to maintain a healthy trade relationship with Canada given tension with Russia, Europe’s top oil supplier.

The proposed regulation would require all refiners to report the emissions potential of the feedstock they use, instead of singling out oil sands with a “dirty” label.

Extracting oil sands uses more energy and water than other petroleum products, so the process emits more carbon dioxide.

“It is no secret that our initial proposal could not go through due to resistance faced in some member states,” Connie Hedegaard, the continent’s environmental commissioner, said in a statement.

Officials said they were leaving the door open to possible changes in labeling requirements later if need be.

“The commission is today giving this another push, to try and ensure that in the future, there will be a methodology and thus an incentive to choose less-polluting fuels over more polluting ones like, for example, oil sands,” Hedegaard said, according to Reuters.