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BC Climate Emergency Campaign releases 2023 Climate Action Progress Report
Civil society groups issue annual assessment of the BC government’s implementation of 10 urgent climate actions to confront the climate emergency

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Livestream of 11:00 a.m. news conference can be viewed at: https://www.facebook.com/events/868778971259132/ 

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Unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-waututh) First Nations (Vancouver) | November 7, 2023 | 

The BC Climate Emergency Campaign’s latest Progress Report, released today, warns that BC is not on track to meet its climate targets. Ongoing support for fracking and liquefied natural gas (LNG), and allowing thousands of new homes to connect to gas is undermining efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, locking in climate pollution for decades, according to the annual assessment of the BC government’s implementation of 10 urgent climate actions to confront the climate emergency.

While the BC government has made minor progress on seven out of 10 climate actions, incremental changes in policies lack the urgency required to confront the climate emergency. 

The report acknowledges that many plans and policies are in development, with significant commitments to nature conservation and public transit, but BC’s climate emergency response has been mostly reactive as the climate crisis rapidly escalates. It’s time for the BC government to move from planning and promises to implementation on the ground. 

The BC Climate Emergency Campaign – whose open letter to the BC government calling for 10 urgent climate actions to confront the climate crisis has now been signed by over 550 organizations spanning Indigenous, anti-poverty, agriculture, arts, health care, transportation, faith, youth, seniors, education, housing, business, community, local government, labour, tourism, outdoor recreation and environmental sectors – seeks to press the government to redouble its efforts to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and phase out fossil fuels.

The coalition of civil society groups is calling for the province to turn its official CleanBC plan into a genuine climate emergency plan through the speedy implementation of the 10 Actions outlined in the cross-sector supported Climate Action Progress Report. 

Immediate and ambitious action, not incrementalism, is required to prevent full climate breakdown, warns the Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres. The International Energy Agency (IEA), in its recent World Energy Outlook 2023, has urged governments to agree to take measures for an orderly decline of fossil fuel use. The BC government is not heeding these urgent recommendations from international bodies.

In today’s Progress Report, the BC government was found to be making “minor progress” on climate actions related to transportation, buildings, ending fossil fuel subsidies, investing in a zero emissions economy, just transition measures, investing in regenerative agriculture, and protecting nature. However, it received a failing grade with respect to setting binding climate targets based on science and justice, tracking and reporting progress, and most notably in regards to rapidly winding down fossil fuel production and use. 

The report highlights the continuing approval of new LNG plants and the ongoing permitting of thousands of new homes to use fossil gas as the central incoherence of CleanBC. The UN and IEA have made clear that there is no more room on a safe planet for new fossil fuel infrastructure.   

The government granted environmental approval to the province’s third proposed liquified fossil gas facility (LNG) this year – Cedar LNG. The LNG produced by Cedar, once burned, will emit about 8 megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year—more than the entire city of Vancouver. And this month the government has opened public comment on a fourth LNG project that will produce nearly as much liquified natural gas as LNG Canada Phase 1, with the latter set to become the largest single source of emissions in BC and one of the five largest in the country. Combined, these projects require significant amounts of fracked fossil gas, and will produce 22.5 Mt CO2e per year of emissions locally – equivalent to burning 25 billion pounds of coal every year – even before the gas will be exported, shipped, and burned in another country.

Stalling action now, while also continuing to dig up, produce, distribute, and burn dirty fossil fuels, including LNG, will only cost BC more as climate impacts worsen. The BC Climate Emergency Campaign implores Premier Eby and the BC government to listen to the 550+ organizations demanding equitable, urgent climate action for the sake of British Columbians’ health, safety, and the future of our province.

QUOTES:

​​Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs
“After experiencing a year of wildfires like this one, there is no denying the harms that climate change is doing to our communities and our lands. The climate emergency is in the process of destroying our ways of life and we’ve consistently shown that we’re not ready – not ready to protect people from the impacts of climate change, and not ready to rapidly transform the extractive economy that got us here. Piecemeal and incremental action is no longer enough. Everyone must act on their responsibilities to these lands and work to create a safer future, and support First Nations leadership in climate action.”

Bishop John Stephens, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster
“This past summer the wildfires in BC and other parts of Canada reminded us, if we needed any reminding, that we are living in a climate emergency. Our dependence on carbon needs to change and change quickly. This can only happen with the leadership and focus of governments at all levels. For us in the Anglican Church this is a spiritual, social, and justice issue that needs our full attention.”

Tracey Saxby, Executive Director, My Sea to Sky 
“BC is not on track to achieve its climate targets, and is failing to demonstrate adequate progress for the goals and targets embedded in CleanBC. While some progress has been made, implementation must accelerate to meet the “fierce urgency of now.” We are facing an extraordinary challenge that requires extraordinary leadership. We’re calling on the BC government to step up. The good news is we know exactly what we need to do—we need to stop burning fossil fuels. The solutions we need already exist, and the ten urgent climate actions outlined in our open letter are a good place to start. We need to act now.”

Seth Klein, Team Lead, Climate Emergency Unit
“The speed and scale of the government’s current approach is incongruous with the climate emergency we face, and the greenhouse gas reduction targets do not align with what science and justice demands. The government’s strategy is also overly focused on extreme weather response, adaptation and community resilience; an approach that will see us forever facing escalating crises and extreme weather events with deadly and costly consequences. The severity of recent extreme weather events, however, create a political opening—the conditions exist for the BC government to be the climate leaders our children need them to be. This is a moment to confront both the climate crisis and the corporations who are fueling it.”

Dr. Melissa Lem, President, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and family physician
“Whether it be extreme heat filling emergency rooms with deadly heat stroke, or wildfire smoke driving asthma exacerbations and mental health crises, the climate emergency is the greatest health emergency we face. We need the provincial government to step up with meaningful regulations and investments to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy that comes with so many health co-benefits: cleaner air to breathe, safer streets and more secure, healthier food systems. Let’s act now to protect our health and health systems.”

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Images and Resources

The 2023 Climate Action Progress Report is available at: https://bcclimateemergency.ca/progress-report
Images and photo credits of speakers at the news conference will become available in this online folder.

About the BC Climate Emergency Campaign

The BC Climate Emergency Campaign is a group of civil society organizations, anxious about the climate emergency, that are collaborating to increase the ambition of climate policy and action in B.C. We are not a formal coalition, but have chosen to work together on a joint campaign. Signatories include agriculture, arts, business, community, education, environment, faith, food producers, health, housing, Indigenous, labour, local government, outdoor recreation, research, seniors, tourism, and youth organizations.

Backgrounder

The scores for the 10 urgent climate actions called for by the BCCEC are as follows. The rationales can be found in the report:

1. Set binding climate targets based on science and justice – FAIL

2. Invest in a thriving, regenerative, zero emissions economy – MINOR PROGRESS

3. Rapidly wind down all fossil fuel production and use – FAIL

4. End fossil fuel subsidies and make polluters pay – MINOR PROGRESS

5. Leave no one behind – MINOR PROGRESS

6. Protect and restore nature – MINOR PROGRESS

7. Invest in local, organic, regenerative agriculture and food systems – MINOR PROGRESS

8. Accelerate the transition to zero emission transportation – MINOR PROGRESS

9. Accelerate the transition to zero emission buildings – MINOR PROGRESS

10. Track and report progress on these actions every year – FAIL

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Contact

Allison Murray | Communications Associate
T 604-442-1846
E allison@MurrayCommunications.org

As B.C. marks the second anniversary of deadly heat dome and experiences worst wildfire season in provincial history, diverse coalition calls for a real BC climate emergency plan and an end to fracking 

Unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-waututh) First Nations (Vancouver) | June 28, 2023 – On the second anniversary of the deadly heat dome that killed 619 residents in B.C., and as the province faces its worst wildfire season ever, representatives from diverse sectors are united in calling on Premier Eby to halt the expansion of gas fracking and to redouble efforts to drive down provincial greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).

This morning, the BC Climate Emergency Campaign and Frack Free BC co-hosted a press conference outside Premier David Eby’s Vancouver constituency office entitled “SOS: Save Our Summers. B.C. Needs a Real Climate Plan and an End to Fracking.” 

“Tomorrow is the last day of school for most children. Usually this is a time of celebration, as we set off to enjoy the summer, spend time outdoors, and relax with friends and family,” said BCCEC coordinator Emiko Newman. “But not anymore. Nowadays, many of us approach the arrival of summer with a sense of dread, wondering what calamities await. Increasingly  we feel trapped when it’s too hot to stay in, and too smoky to go out. After two years of devastating extreme weather events, we are here to say: We want our summers back!”

Wildfires in B.C. have already consumed more territory than any previous summer, and the fire response has cost the B.C. government over $100 million and counting. And it’s only June. The Donnie Creek fire, burning in the fracking country of northern B.C., is the largest in the province’s history, having already consumed an area nearly twice the size of Metro Vancouver. This single wildfire has already emitted about 76 million tonnes of CO2e, surpassing the 64.6 million tonnes of CO2e that the entire province of B.C. produced in 2020.

Notably, emissions released from wildfires are not included in the province’s annual domestic GHG emissions count, meaning B.C.’s actual emissions are drastically higher than the official count.

Even without including the growing emissions from wildfires, the B.C. government has acknowledged that it is unable to achieve its emission-reductions targets for 2025 and is not on a path to meet its inadequate 2030 target. 

In March, the B.C. government approved Cedar LNG and started the permitting process for the Ksi Lisims LNG project. In total, B.C. has six fossil fuel LNG projects in the works, and all are aiming to become operational before 2030.

If all six projects become operational, they would create more than three times the allowable emissions in the province’s climate plan, producing 30.3 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (Mt CO2e) per year. This is equivalent to burning 34 billion pounds of coal annually, or adding nearly seven million gasoline cars to B.C. streets every year, on repeat, during 30 years of operation, with emissions released directly into B.C. communities.

“For six years, we’ve told the provincial government they can’t make LNG fit within their climate commitments,” said Peter McCartney, climate campaigner with the Wilderness Committee and Frack Free BC. “Now we’re on track to miss our target in 2025 because of a single facility, and they’re planning to construct five more. You cannot have a real plan to respond to the climate emergency and build a brand new fossil fuel industry. It’s time for B.C. to get serious about cutting pollution and develop a plan to end fracking on the timelines science and justice demand.”

Even as the United Nations, IPCC and International Energy Agency make clear that the atmosphere cannot abide any more fossil fuel infrastructure, the government approved a new LNG facility – Cedar LNG; a plant that will produce three metagones of LNG a year, which, when burned, will produce more GHGs than the entire city of Vancouver.

The BC Climate Emergency Campaign’s open letter to the B.C. government, outlining 10 urgent actions to confront the climate crisis, has now been signed by over 530 organizations, representing many diverse sectors and over two million British Columbians.

Even the BC NDP Provincial Council has passed a motion in support of 9 of the 10 actions (all but action #3 calling for an immediate stop to all new fossil fuel infrastructure).

QUOTES

Climate Emergency Unit, Team Lead, Seth Klein
“We need to see the province revamp its climate plans with renewed urgency and ambition. Clean BC – the province’s official climate plan – in its current form, simply does not cut it. Our annual GHG reductions are not on a trajectory that aligns with what science and justice demands. We are not spending and investing what it takes to meet this task. We are not creating ambitious new institutions and programs to drive the rapid transformation that is needed. Our target dates for zero emission housing and vehicles are too far away. And we have not seen a compelling just transition plan for impacted workers and front-line communities.”

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, President, Dr. Melissa Lem
“Every year over 10,000 new homes are tied in to gas lines, directly counteracting the province’s efforts to encourage households to swap to electric heat pumps. This also harms our health at every step along the supply chain, from higher rates of lung disease and birth complications where natural gas is fracked in northeast BC, to a higher risk of asthma in children who live in homes with gas stoves. B.C. is not on a path to meet this moment. Our lack of a viable, coherent climate emergency plan puts our health at risk. That’s why we are issuing this SOS.”

Minister for Climate Justice, Anglican Diocese of New Westminster, Rev. Dr. Joyce Parry-Moore
”The Hebrew scriptures have two versions of the Creation Story: one uses the word “dominion” and the second asks humans to “cultivate,” which means to serve. We’ve witnessed the destruction caused by domination; it is time for us to serve!”

Patagonia, Activism Lead, Michaela Rocha
“Patagonia is in business to Save Our Home Planet. We support nature and people, and we aim to use our voice, our business, and our community to do something about the climate crisis. We will continue to support the grassroots movements that are pushing local, provincial, and federal governments to regulate and end fracking in communities across B.C. and Canada. We hope that together we can prioritize purpose over profit and protect our wonderful planet, our only home.”

Earnest Ice Cream, Co-founder and Co-owner, Benjamin Ernst
“Heat domes and air quality warnings from wildfire smoke keep people inside, shutting down our most important season for ice cream sales. Extreme weather like the flooding we saw in 2021 in the Fraser Valley, or the current drought in the Prairies, drives up prices on grain, dairy, and many other crops that we depend on.”

Climate Recentered, Co-founder, Zoha Faisal
“Young people are tired of being told that we will inherit a broken world. We are already here, and we have already felt the consequences of the climate crisis while politicians continue to prioritize their profit and power instead of public health. This world is already ours, and that is why we fight for it.”

Wildfires, and oil and gas emissions
Wildfires are directly related to the emissions from oil and gas operations. A recent study determined that emissions from the oil and gas sector contributed to 37 percent of the forested areas burned by fires in southwestern Canada and western U.S. between 1986 and 2021. Fracking, transporting, processing and burning fossil fuels release greenhouse gases into the environment, causing climate change. Scientists have been warning for decades that increased temperatures will result in more frequent and more severe wildfires.

Images and Resources
Images, photo credits and cutlines are available in this online folder.

About the BC Climate Emergency Campaign
The BC Climate Emergency Campaign is a group of civil society organizations, anxious about the climate emergency, that are collaborating to increase the ambition of climate policy and action in B.C. In June 2023, the BC NDP Provincial Council unanimously adopted our Campaign’s 10 Actions, with the exception of Action #3 that calls for an immediate stop to all new fossil fuel infrastructure: bcclimateemergency.ca

About Frack Free BC
Frack Free BC is a broad-based alliance made up of allied organizations including NGOs, Indigenous partners, grassroots organizations, community groups, and individuals who are organizing their communities to raise awareness and apply pressure to the government to end fracking in BC. 

Contact
Allison Murray
Communications Associate
T 604-442-1846
E allison@MurrayCommunications.org