Canada and the Alberta government are engaged in an international campaign on behalf of the oil sands industry to weaken global warming laws, a recent report argues.

“Over the last few years,” reads a document prepared by the Climate Action Network, “Canada’s federal government has systematically tried to kill clean energy and climate change policies in other countries in order to promote the interests of oil companies.

The report shows in detail three pieces of legislation targeted by Canadian officials. In California, low carbon fuel standard legislation aims to reduce the carbon footprint of that state’s transportation fuel sector 10 percent by 2020.

The law would likely make fuel suppliers less likely to source high carbon crude from Alberta’s oil sands. That’s because the industry has a carbon footprint 82 percent higher than more conventional operations, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates.

Canada has intervened formally at least five times in California’s attempts to formalize and implement the legislation, the report concludes.

Canadian government representatives have also actively lobbied against Section 526, a federal American law which could potentially restrict oil sands imports.

The report also notes how Canada has vigorously opposed a low carbon fuel standard-type law currently being debated in the European Union.

Recent Tyee reports have examined the international lobbying activities of Canadian officials in depth. Click here to read how oil sands interests are helping weaken U.S. climate legislation.

Read a report here about Canada’s European Union lobbying. And check out this Tyee report about the strong links between Alberta’s oil sands and the U.S. Tea Party movement.

Geoff Dembicki reports for the Tyee.