Sebastian Vettel’s criticism of Canada’s exploitation of the Alberta tar sands has drawn a fierce response from the country’s minister of energy.
The Aston Martin driver is sporting a new helmet this weekend bearing the slogans “Stop mining tar sands” and “Canada’s climate crime.”
The vast tar sands of Alberta, west of Quebec where Vettel is participating in this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, are mined for their oil reserves. The extraction process has contaminated the surrounding environment and endangered wildlife, as well as displaced the area’s indigenous communities.
Canada’s minister for energy Sonya Savage, a member of the United Conservative Party of Alberta and supporter of oil pipeline construction, slated Vettel’s stance in a series of posts on social media.
“I have seen a lot of hypocrisy over the years, but this one takes the cake,” Savage wrote, pointing out Saudi Aramco is a title sponsor of Vettel’s Aston Martin team.
“A race car driver sponsored by Aston Martin, with financing from Saudi Aramco, complaining about the oil sands.
“Saudi Aramco has the largest daily oil production of all companies in the world. It is reputed to be the single largest contributor to global carbon emissions, of any company, since 1965.
“Rather than demonising the oil sands, which is on a path to net-zero, people could look to lowering their own personal carbon footprint. Perhaps a pedal-car for Formula 1?”
Formula 1 has announced a plan to become a net-zero emitter of carbon by 2030. Vettel defended his description of Canada’s exploitation of the tar sands as a “crime” during Friday’s press conference at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
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“I find this – fascinating might be the wrong word – but there’s a lot going on. We live in a time and age where we are so much aware of a lot of things.
“I think what happens in Alberta is a crime because you chop down a lot of trees and you basically destroy the place just to extract oil and the manner of doing it with the tar sands mining, oil sands mining is horrible for nature.
“Obviously Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions have gone up since they started doing it. The site has only been, as far as I read, found like 20 years ago.
“The prime minister said that no other country would find these resources and not pick them up; I think in principle…
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