Report card on B.C.’s plan to lower climate-changing emissions

B.C.’s climate progress

(The first in a two-part series looking at how B.C.’s plan to lower climate-changing emissions is doing.)

CleanBC, the B.C. government’s plan to lower climate-changing emissions, has set a target of a 40% reduction by 2030.

However, B.C.’s annual emissions are currently 26% above 1990 levels and 2030 is only five years away. As new liquefied natural gas export projects like LNG Canada, Woodfibre LNG, and Cedar LNG come online, B.C.’s emissions will continue to increase, locking in climate pollution for decades and making it impossible for B.C. to achieve its climate targets.

A highly contentious aspect of BC’s climate strategy is the allocation of public funds to electrify the oil and gas sector. All BC Hydro ratepayers will effectively be subsidizing massive fossil fuel export projects, if, and when, LNG projects are provided with public power at discount rates.

Those subsidies have been justified as a means to reduce emissions from the high-polluting LNG industry. But they have sparked widespread criticism for perpetuating reliance on fossil fuel extraction. Electrifying the LNG industry will divert B.C.’s electricity resources away from other sectors like the electrification of buildings and transportation to “greenwash” fossil fuel extraction. Subsidizing electricity for LNG export projects prioritizes corporate profits over the public good and will increase the energy costs for everyday British Columbians.

So where do we stand? The B.C. Climate Emergency Campaign, a group of civil society organizations collaborating to increase support for climate policy and action in B.C., recently released their 2024 Climate Progress Report.

The B.C. Climate Emergency Campaign lists 10 urgent actions on which it rates the provincial government.

The rating system:

• Fail: No substantive policies or actions implemented

• Minor progress: Some policies or actions in progress

• Major progress: Significant policies or actions in progress

• Complete: Policies or actions have been implemented

• Unkniwn: Data currently unavailable or policies or actions pending

The 10 actions and their grades are:

1. Set binding climate pollution targets based on science and justice — Fail

• B.C.’s legislated greenhouse gas reduction targets are inadequate, not aligned with science or justice and are not binding.

• B.C.’s greenhouse gas emissions increased by 3.3% in 2022 to 64.3 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

2. Invest in a thriving, regenerative, zero-emissions economy—Minor progress

• Spending on climate adaptation and mitigation has increased in the past year. The 2024 provincial budget modestly increased spending to $5.6 billion to reduce emissions.

• The global recommendation is 2% of GDP, or $8.5 billion per year for B.C.

• Some advancement of the Crown’s recognition of the economic component of aboriginal title.

• B.C Hydro selected nine wind power projects to produce 3,000 gigawatt hours/year of renewable energy, eight of which have 51% equity stakes with First Nations.

• BC Hydro’s updated 10-year capital plan contains a 50% increase ($36 billion) in investments in regional and community infrastructure across the province.

3. Rapidly wind down all fossil fuel production and use— Fail

• B.C. has no policy to limit the expansion of fracking or liquefied natural gas exports and continues to approve new fossil fuel infrastructure. LNG Canada is beginning operations, Woodfibre LNG is under construction, Tilbury Marine Jetty was approved and Cedar LNG made a final investment decision. These new LNG facilities don’t have a credible plan to be “net zero” by 2030 as required. With these LNG export facilities, it will be impossible for B.C. to achieve its greenhouse gas reduction targets.

• B.C. continues to support false solutions such as hydrogen, renewable gas, liquid biofuels, carbon capture, utilization, and storage and carbon offsets, which prop up and “greenwash” fossil fuel extraction.

4. End fossil fuel subsidies and make polluters pay—Minor progress

• B.C. remains the second largest provider of fossil fuel subsidies in Canada.

• Fossil fuel subsidies are expensive, incentivize pollution, and disadvantage cleaner energy like renewables or geothermal by creating market distortions.

• The government’s plan to build a $3 billion transmission line to electrify LNG export projects could result in a new multi-billion-dollar subsidy for fossil fuels. Electricity would come in part from the publicly-funded $16 billion Site C Dam, and risks diverting BC’s limited energy resources away from other sectors in order to greenwash fossil fuel extraction.

• The government is struggling to afford billions of dollars for floods and wildfire damage across the province as climate change worsens. B.C. needs to take legal action to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for a fair share of climate costs as is being done in other jurisdictions, rather than leaving the costs entirely to taxpayers.

• The oil and gas industry is permitted to use billions of litres of fresh water for fracking at greatly subsidized rates.

(The second part of this two part series will look at the remaining six actions.)

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.