Following ACT!'s January report on the success of Co-operative Asset Management and several other companies, in influencing the shareholders of oil giant Shell, to consider their involvement in the extraction of Canadian tar sands, several large American companies have signed up to oppose the use of the tar sands due to climate and environmental concerns.
Large US retailers, Bed Bath and Beyond and Whole Foods have become the most recent companies to sign up to the ForestEthics campaign.
http://www.forestethics.org/tar-sands, opposing American investment and use of the Canadian oil which is estimated to produce 5times more greenhouse gases than conventional crude oil.
Despite the success of campaigns run by the Co-operative Group, UK and ForestEthics and the mounting political pressure to scale down the extraction of tar sands, Canada is planning to invite business from Asia.
The tar sands were once marketed as a way to secure North American oil supplies, but a change in political opinion, and predictions of a crash in oil prices has led Canada to seek out new customers, China being at this point the most likely. An investment of CA$1.9 billion from state owned PetroChina, has seen China take majority ownership of two tar sands sites already, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper suggesting China will be investing more very shortly, "Expect more Chinese investment in the energy and resource sectors.... there will definitely be more".
While many US businesses have chosen to move away from tar sands as a way of reducing their carbon footprints, this recent Chinese interest will be sure to raise eyebrows regarding China and its involvement in any global climate agreement.