The boardroom wars around ExxonMobil, a district court in the Hague ruling Shell should speed up its emissions cutting above and beyond its own objectives, the International Energy Agency suggesting oil and gas exploration should come to a halt right now if we are to reach UNFCCC goals, all this seems to create a sense of agitation when everything is subject to revision and everything needs to be redefined to reflect the realities of 2021. In this context, the oil sands of Athabasca (and presumably a slew of other similar projects, including but not limited to tar sands in the Orinoco Belt, of course were they to reach a similar scope) seem to be at an especially vulnerable crossroads – just when oil sands production could finally surge unimpeded with new pipelines allowing for higher exports abroad, their raison d’être might be called into question. Oil sands owe their […]