B.C. failing on climate, 600 advocacy groups say

British Columbia’s support for the LNG industry is undermining the province’s climate efforts, says a coalition of over 600 advocacy groups. 

On Tuesday, the BC Climate Emergency Campaign  released its second analysis of the provincial government's efforts to tackle the climate crisis, and found the province has failed or made only minor progress on key climate actions since the group's first report in 2021. 

Necessary actions include setting binding, science-based, emissions-reduction targets; winding down fossil fuel production and curbing subsidies for the industry; bolstering sustainable farming; and providing better support for climate-friendly buildings and transportation. 

"British Columbia is not the [climate] leader that it claims to be," said Tracey Saxby, co-founder of the environmental group My Sea-to-Sky. "Initial progress has stalled, and emissions are rising as B.C. continues to subsidize and expand new fossil fuel infrastructure." 

B.C.’s annual emissions are not trending downward, and sit 26 per cent above 1990 levels, according to the most recent data ending in 2022. In contrast, the European Union has reduced its annual emissions to 36 per cent below 1990 levels, demonstrating that rapid emissions reductions are possible.

To limit temperature rise to 1.5 C, B.C. needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 10 per cent per year until 2030, the report notes. However, the province's existing climate policies don't set it on track to meet that target, nor do provincial climate laws require the government to hit its emissions reduction goals between now and 2050. 

The group criticized the province's decision to allocate low-emissions electricity to its liquefied natural gas (LNG) export industry, despite growing demand from residents as they rely more heavily on electricity. While experts say B.C. can sustainably generate enough electricity to meet future demand, that growth will take several years and is poised to increase residents' electricity costs, they warned. 

“B.C. policymakers must stop greenwashing LNG and stop framing LNG as a clean energy solution," said Emily Newman, coordinator for the BC Climate Emergency Campaign. "Gas expansion for LNG is making life more unaffordable for people in BC, and fuelling increasingly severe and deadly unnatural disasters.”

The findings come amid intense debate over the province's existing climate rules. During last fall's election, Premier David Eby promised to scrap the province's consumer carbon tax if the federal carbon tax is eliminated. 

Recent years have seen a heated fight over municipalities' efforts to ban natural gas heating in new buildings using provincial building codes. From Nanaimo to Burnaby, local governments trying to implement the measures have faced lobbying efforts and disinformation campaigns led by the fossil fuel industry and allied groups.

Still, the report noted glimmers of hope. For instance, it highlighted several agreements between the province and First Nations to protect parts of the coastline, and the government's recognition of the economic component of the Haida Nation's Aboriginal title. The group also celebrated BC Hydro's decision to increase its infrastructure investment by about 50 per cent. 

"The good news is that we know what the solutions are," said Saxby. "We need to stop burning fossil fuels. If we don't, the planet will keep getting hotter, and the devastating climate related disasters that we're already experiencing will only get worse." 

The B.C. Ministry of Energy and Climate Solutions did not respond to questions about the report by deadline.