British Columbia\u2019s modest climate gains are at risk after a wave of policy clawbacks this past year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to the province\u2019s\u00a0recent accountability report<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 which reflects BC\u2019s climate data on a two-year lag \u2014 carbon pollution declined by four per cent in 2023, meaning emissions are now 9 per cent below the 2007 baseline.\u00a0<\/p>\n The province has also nearly halved methane emissions in the oil and gas sector from 2014, meeting this year\u2019s target two years early.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, many climate measures that are just beginning to bear fruit, or will soon \u2014 such as the\u00a0consumer carbon tax<\/a>,\u00a0electric vehicle rebates and sales mandates<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0net-zero requirements<\/a>\u00a0for liquified natural gas (LNG) projects \u2014 have been pruned back or chopped entirely in 2025. What\u2019s more, the province scrapped the promised oil and gas sector emissions cap and never delivered a\u00a0clean transportation plan<\/a>\u00a0although fossil fuel vehicles continue to account for 41 per cent of the BC\u2019s carbon pollution.\u00a0<\/p>\n As a result, the accountability report looks back at progress resulting from policies that now no longer exist, said Jens Wieting, senior policy and science advisor at Sierra Club BC. Yet the province doesn\u2019t detail how it plans to drive down carbon pollution and its impacts on people\u2019s health and pocketbooks as climate disasters including record wildfires and floods, which recently devastated farmers in Abbotsford for the second time in five years, continue to occur, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last year\u2019s accountability report\u00a0already indicated BC wasn\u2019t on track<\/a>\u00a0to meet its 2030 carbon pollution target \u2014 a reduction of 40 per cent \u2014 yet the province has still slashed climate policies.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s irresponsible to leave people in the dark about what actions will be taken to get us closer to the 2030 targets, because climate change is a life and death issue, and that\u2019s not reflected in this report,\u201d Wieting said.<\/p>\n A \u201cshocking\u201d detail in the report was the amount of carbon pollution being generated by the increasingly severe wildfires fuelled by drought, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wildfire emissions in 2023, the worst season on record, were six times higher than BC\u2019s total carbon pollution for the year. The province tracks wildfire emissions but they aren\u2019t included in provincial carbon pollution totals because BC, like other\u00a0national and international<\/a>\u00a0jurisdictions, consider wildfires to be natural rather than human caused \u2014 a policy that is\u00a0heavily criticized<\/a>\u00a0by climate experts.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c[Wildfire] carbon emissions in 2023 added up to over 400 million tonnes, which is almost incomprehensible,\u201d Wieting said, adding the figures underscore the urgency of delivering carbon pollution reductions that limit global warming below catastrophic levels.\u00a0<\/p>\n The province highlights its work to reduce carbon pollution in the forestry sector with measures such as using waste wood more efficiently, or tree planting, but it fails to mention any steps or climate benefits tied to protecting old-growth forests that trap large amounts of carbon while protecting biodiversity, he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere isn\u2019t any reference to protecting forests as part of climate action and that\u2019s a huge concern,\u201d Wieting said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be one of the most effective, most immediate benefits for the climate to keep those enormous carbon pools protected in standing old growth forests.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Consumers pay for scrapped policies<\/p>\n Aside from limiting efforts to reduce carbon pollution, BC\u2019s climate rollbacks have additional drawbacks, said Tom Green, senior climate policy adviser at the David Suzuki Foundation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nixing the consumer carbon tax and the associated rebate means there\u2019s less incentive for households and businesses to make the switch to EVs and heat pumps or invest in cleaner fuels or technology instead of burning dirty fossil fuels, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Weakening BC\u2019s EV standards to match pending national policies also doesn\u2019t make sense given the province\u2019s former rebates and sales mandate drove one of the fastest uptakes of clean cars in the country, Green said, noting nearly 200,000 EVs are in use on BC roads.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re ahead of the curve; we don\u2019t want to try and match northern Saskatchewan,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The modest emissions reductions in the accountability report don\u2019t demonstrate climate policies don\u2019t work, but rather, that they do and the province needs to truly double down, Green said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think the message is when we put in place good climate policy and we don\u2019t sabotage it, change it and weaken it due to industry pressure, then we get results,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The province\u2019s push to develop LNG export projects while backtracking on carbon pollution rules will also wipe out any climate gains, and move the province in the wrong direction from both a climate and economic standpoint, Green said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re trying to bring down carbon emissions across the economy but we\u2019re growing this massive LNG export industry which is going to blow any ability to meet climate targets out of the water and lock us into long-term fossil fuel infrastructure,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Previously, proposed LNG projects like the Cedar LNG now under construction, or the massive Ksi Lisims LNG proposal awaiting a final investment decision, were required to have net-zero emissions by 2030 to get provincial approvals.\u00a0<\/p>\n But in March, Energy and Climate Solutions Minister\u00a0Adrian Dix rolled back the pollution rules<\/a>, stating LNG proponents only have to \u201cprovide a credible plan\u201d to reach net-zero if they can\u2019t plug into BC\u2019s electrical grid by that date. In a related move to clean up carbon pollution by electrifying LNG production and export projects along with mining sites, the province is\u00a0fast-tracking the $6-billion North Coast Transmission Line<\/a>.<\/p>\n But LNG projects will demand a substantial amount of energy and potentially divert resources from the electrification efforts that truly curb global warming, Green said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAny progress we\u2019re making is largely because we\u2019re electrifying the economy by adopting heat pumps and EVs or making homes more energy efficient,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut, if we don\u2019t have electricity for all that because we\u2019re giving it to LNG, we\u2019re going to face challenges.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Political pressure on NDP government<\/p>\n Jeremy Valeriote, BC Green Party MLA for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky said the province needs to show more political courage and vision to address climate change effectively. \u00a0<\/p>\n The boom in renewable technologies such as solar panels, which are increasingly affordable, as well as the uptake of EVs worldwide, is disrupting the myth that shifting to a clean economy is unaffordable.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cConservative operators might continue to try and use [that narrative] but it\u2019s going to be much more difficult,\u201d Valeriote said.<\/p>\n The province needs to do more to demonstrate the savings and advantages tied to the long-term life cycle costs of EVs or heat pumps over gas-burning cars and furnaces, which appear cheaper due to their initial cost, he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n In addition to continuing their fight against LNG and the proposed Alberta oil pipeline, the Greens will be pushing the NDP to start accounting for the long-term social and economic costs associated with carbon pollution and new oil and gas projects, including rising insurance, food, healthcare, housing and infrastructure expenses, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cLiabilities associated with some of our fossil fuels are going to come back to bite us,\u201d Valeriote said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPeople talk about fiscal responsibility, and I really think it\u2019s important to remember that the best fiscal responsibility is avoiding some of these catastrophes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Green agreed. The government\u2019s decision to weaken climate policies despite the economic benefits of climate action is disappointing, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOne thing I don\u2019t think the government is taking to heart anymore is that climate action is good for affordability. It\u2019s good for jobs, good for quality of life,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s discouraging that despite all these good reasons to continue the course, we have a government that\u2019s lost interest.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British Columbia\u2019s modest climate gains are at risk after a wave of policy clawbacks this past year.\u00a0 According…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-401923","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}