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But Swart and Weaver found the fossil fuel with the greatest potential to drive global warming is coal. If the global supply of coal were burned, the global temperature could rise by an estimated 15 C.

The global temperature has increased 0.76 C in the past 100 years.

Though carbon emissions from oilsands are less than from coal, Swart says the numbers must be considered in a global context.

“If only Canada had this resource and it was utilized then it’s true that the impact on the global climate would be fairly small,” he said Monday. “However, we have to realize that many other countries also have large fossil fuel resources and if these countries follow Canada’s example in exploiting their fossil fuel resources to a large extent then the amount of warming that you’ll have will be very large.”

Swart said North Americans emit more than their share of carbon based on the 2009 Copenhagen agreement to limit global warming to 2 C above pre-industrial times.

By only using the available oilsands, Swart said, North Americans would use up about 75 per cent of the global emissions allowable in order to stay within that 2 C increase in global temperatures.

Canada, he said, should be working toward switching over to low-carbon alternatives in order to set an example for other countries — not increasing oilsands exploitation.

“It’s chance that Canada happens to have oilsands but Colombia or South Africa or China have large coal resources,” he said. “The equivalent of Canada digging into the oilsands is China, Colombia and South Africa going full scale on their coal.