British Columbia’s CleanBC Roadmap fails to address growing emissions from oil and gas

October 25, 2021

Premier Horgan has broken his promise to be a climate leader.

Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) (VANCOUVER, BC) — Earlier today, the B.C. Government released the CleanBC Roadmap, an update to their plan to reach the province’s 2030 climate target. The CleanBC initiative was originally announced in December of 2018, and at that time the B.C. Government committed to completing the plan to reach the 2030 target within the next 18 to 24 months. Only to have to admit in December of 2020 that not only would they miss their deadline but that emissions had continued to rise and the gap to our target had grown significantly. 

Now a year late, the CleanBC Roadmap still lacks any kind of detailed plan to address emissions from B.C. ‘s oil and gas sector, which is one of the fastest growing sources of climate pollution. The province has further delayed this key area of its climate plan until 2023. Most alarmingly the B.C. Government is still committed to dramatically expand LNG and by extension fracking in the province, without any new details on how these new emissions will fit into their climate targets.  

“I am deeply disappointed with today’s announcement,” said Sven Biggs, Stand.earth’s Canadian Oil and Gas Program Director. “It shows that B.C. is still playing catch up to other jurisdictions, and that is not the climate leadership Premiere Horgan promised. Quebec, California, and Washington State have all taken real steps to address oil and gas production, while the federal government has already signaled they are ready to increase the ambition of the carbon tax. Leadership means moving first and fastest and this plan is at best just catching up to the strongest plans in North America.”    

Released alongside the Roadmap, the province also released the 2021 Climate Change Accountability Report and the latest emissions data. Which shows that again B.C. emissions are continuing to rise despite the implementation of CleanBC. Most troubling was the continued increase from the oil and gas sector, which now represents 21 per cent of the province’s emissions, and means oil and gas emit more than all other industries in B.C. combined.

The CleanBC Roadmap does include some positive steps forward including an accelerated timeline of the adoption of light duty zero-emission vehicles and a commitment to match California’s plans to adopt heavy duty zero-emission vehicles. The commitment to changing the building code to require zero-carbon new construction holds promise but environmentalists would like to see the 2030 implementation date for this policy moved up. 

“Emissions from oil and gas are greater than all other industries in the province combined and while most other sectors of the economy have made progress, oil and gas emissions continue to rise at an alarming rate,” said Kiki Wood, Stand.earth’s Senior Oil and Gas Campaigner. “You can’t claim to have a plan to meet our 2030 climate target without the details of how you are going to address the industry that is at the core of the problem. It is clear that we are already living through a climate emergency, and it is long past time that our government stood up to the fracking companies and the oil giants.”

Currently, oil and gas activity produces 21 per cent of B.C.’s emissions, but contributes only three per cent to provincial GDP, and represents just 0.5 per cent of jobs in the province. If construction on the LNG Canada terminal is completed, it will add four million tonnes of emissions per year — which would represent a 30 per cent increase in oil and gas emissions.

The science is clear, expanding oil and gas extraction is inconsistent with a safe climate. The United Nations Environment Programme, which just last week released the Production Gap Report,  and the International Energy Agency’s groundbreaking Net Zero by 2050 report, both warn jurisdictions like B.C. that increased production of oil and gas is neither in line with our climate targets or in our long term economic self interest.    

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Media contacts: 

Ziona Eyob, Media Director – Canada, canmedia@stand.earth, +1 604 757 7279 (Pacific Time)