UN Climate conference, Poznan, 1 - 12 December 2008

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Braving toxic fumes and the same toxic tailings waste that earlier this year killed 500 ducks, Greenpeace activists entered Syncrude's Aurora North tar sands operation early this morning and attempted to block a pipe into the two-kilometre wide tailings pond. The activists also suspended a banner that read "World's Dirtiest Oil: Stop the Tar Sands."

Canada has failed to live up to the commitment it made in signing the Kyoto Protocol to take steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by six per cent from 1990 levels by 2012. The huge emissions of greenhouse gases from the tar sands make it much more difficult for Canada to meet its obligations.

Facts on the tar sands:

• Fastest growing source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada
• Production expected to grow to between three and five million barrels of oil a day by 2020
• Produces 40 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions currently; nearly the emissions of the Czech Republic
• Tar sands GHG emissions may double by 2015,
• By 2020 tar sands GHGs will likely increase to 141 million tonnes, double the current emissions of all cars and trucks in Canada
• Producing oil from the tar sands releases three to five times more GHG emissions than oil from conventional sources and uses three to five barrels of water to get a barrel of oil---the dirty oil problem
• Every day tar sands producers burn 600 million cubic feet of natural gas to produce tar sands oil, enough natural gas to heat three million Canadian homes
• Tar sands production is licensed to use more water a day than Alberta's two major cities---Calgary and Edmonton---combined
• 90 per cent of the water used in the tar sands is highly contaminated and ends up in huge tailings ponds that already cover 50 square kilometers. Contaminants include naphthenic acids and mercury.
• Tailings ponds adjacent to rivers pose an enormous threat of contamination of fresh water and destruction of wildlife
• A vast area of the boreal forest is being destroyed by tar sands operations, roads and pipelines; fragmenting forests and wildlife habitats and forcing the sensitive woodland caribou out of its home
• First Nations communities downstream of the tar sands have reported elevated levels of rare cancers. Tar sands pollution has been associated with embryonic deformity, mortality and other biological impacts in fish in the Athabasca River.

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Greenpeace projected a 15 square meter message onto Parliament Hill that read "Wanted: Climate leaders". The message highlights the third anniversary of the Kyoto protocol and the lack of leadership of the Harper Government in effectively addressing climate change.

Since signing the Kyoto Protocol in 2002, Canada has done almost nothing to fight global warming. Greenhouse gas emissions are now nearly 30 per cent higher than Canada's target under the Protocol. With the unchecked development of the tar sands, Canada's emissions will get worse and the difficulty of reducing emissions will increase.

In order to play a leadership role in Poznan and in the discussions leading to the Copenhagen conference, Canada must:

• Adopt a science-based target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to help prevent catastrophic climate change and threats to people and the environment
• Implement an action plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020
• Agree to binding emissions reductions of 25 to 40 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020 for all developed countries
• Agree to long-term emissions reductions of at least 80 per cent from 1990 levels by 2050
• Support a Forest Fund for developing countries to reduce deforestation and forest degradation
• Help developing countries financially to adapt to climate change and mitigate its effects
• Fund the transfer of green technology to developing countries
• Support the development in Poznan of a draft agreement that will be the basis for real negotiations during 2009 to strengthen and extend the Kyoto Protocol in Copenhagen
• Help ensure that the world keeps the rise in global temperatures as far below 2 degrees Celsius as possible