July 29, 2008 View all news Oil exploration 'could damage climate'Irish TimesA drive to get oil from unconventional fossil fuel sources in the face of soaring prices could have catastrophic effects on the Earth's climate, a report warned today.With oil prices hitting record highs, the extraction of tar sands and oil shale is an increasingly attractive option.But according to a study by WWF and the Co-operative Financial Services, the fuels are massively energy intensive - creating as much as eight times as many carbon emissions in their production as conventional oil.If all the estimated 1,115 billion barrels of the recoverable fuels found in Canada and the US were to be extracted, the report estimates it would release 980 billion tonnes of CO2.Read Full Story Categorised in: Climate Change Energy