Stand.earth: B.C. election season – what we need to see

VANCOUVER (UNCEDED SALISH COAST TERRITORIES) — As election season in British Columbia begins, Stand.earth is putting all parties on notice that environmental groups – and voters – expect platforms that include robust plans to address the climate emergency. These plans must include commitments to end fracking and Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) expansion; finally make at-risk old growth forests off-limits to logging; and pursue fossil fuel-free green building strategies that will make heating homes more affordable.

Stand.earth’s climate experts and advocates will be available for comment on B.C. environmental policy issues during the election campaign, and on the climate priorities the new legislative assembly must put at the top of their agenda.

The cost of living and access to housing are top of mind for candidates, as voters struggle with affordability and meeting their day-to-day needs. These issues are inextricably linked to climate policy. Leading scientists continue to raise the alarm that Canada is warming faster than anywhere else on the planet. The Canadian Climate Institute estimates that by 2025, disasters associated with climate change will cost the Canadian economy $25 billion, and the average household in Canada is losing $700 annually as a result. In B.C. this is happening against the backdrop of several years of extreme temperatures, floods, and devastating megafires. Polling continues to indicate that the environment is an issue of high concern for B.C. residents.

“An overwhelming majority of B.C. residents care deeply about environmental issues and want to see the next government move us forward, not backward, on key climate policies. They want to see critical old growth forests protected from reckless logging and an end to fracking expansion in northeastern B.C.,” said Liz McDowell, Senior Campaigns Director at Stand.earth. “Voters want to see our elected leaders take action to meet our climate commitments while making life more affordable for everyone – like ensuring that all new buildings come equipped with environmentally-friendly and low-cost heat pumps for heating and cooling – rather than throwing billions in subsidies at the province’s biggest polluters.”

Stand.earth will closely examine party platforms and policy statements on climate. That includes discussion of the future of the “carbon tax.”

“It’s a no-brainer that governments need to focus more on cutting the pollution of the largest emitters, like oil and gas companies, the real drivers of climate change,” said Sven Biggs, Canadian Oil and Gas Program Director with Stand.earth. “However, if Premier Eby and other politicians are considering shifting the price on carbon away from consumers to the heavy polluters we’ll first need to see the plan on how they will increase the cost of emissions on the oil and gas industries to make up the difference they are creating with this shift.”

LNG and fracking is not solely an environmental issue but a political issue as well, and gas is a major environmental problem, while LNG (particularly LNG Canada) is a climate and political disaster. A vast majority of B.C. residents support renewable energy over LNG.

“British Columbia is sleep-walking during climate catastrophes by continuing to approve new LNG terminals and pipelines. This will lead to an explosion of the number of fracking wells in this province,” said Kiki Wood, Senior Oil and Gas Campaigner with Stand.earth. “We must wake up to the reality that you can’t fight climate change while expanding the very thing causing the crisis: fossil fuels. This is why every candidate running for office in this election must answer the question: Will you protect our climate and B.C. communities, and set a date to phase out fracked gas? Or, will you obey corporate lobbyists and continue expanding pipelines and LNG?”  

Old growth and primary forests are essential to mitigating climate catastrophes like megafires, landslides, and floods. Stand.earth’s satellite monitoring tool Forest Eye has revealed that at least 32,000 hectares of old growth forests in B.C. have been destroyed in recent years, including in vulnerable areas where the province said it intended to defer or temporarily ban logging. Forest Eye has documented logging in every region of the province, and candidate deferrals have been disproportionately targeted for logging in central B.C., where communities have also faced recent mill closures – a grim situation for workers and families.

A paradigm shift in forest management is urgently required. The full slate of recommendations in the Old Growth Strategic Review must be implemented while ensuring the full compliance with the Free, Prior and Informed Consent and rights of First Nations Title holders.

“Voters are heading to the polls with forests in a more precarious position than ever before in history. As old growth continues to fall and forest communities face the devastating impacts of decades of mismanagement, we need politicians to face facts and put forward real pathways for change,” said Tegan Hansen, Senior Forest Campaigner at Stand.earth. “Whichever party assumes office after the election, it must act immediately to keep old growth standing and overhaul this system that is failing forest communities and ecosystems.”

When it comes to climate-safe buildings, highly efficient electric space and water heating would dramatically slash emissions, since electricity is 16 times less polluting than gas. Approximately 30 communities across B.C. have already taken the lead on modernizing their building bylaws to construct new buildings that will require electricity as their primary energy source. A majority of these communities are going fully electric by no later than mid 2025, five years ahead of the provincial requirement.

“As technologies advance and older ways of heating homes like using natural gas become obsolete, we should replace them with safer, more sustainable options like heat pumps that are readily available,” said Sunil Singal, SAFE Cities Campaigner at Stand.earth. “Heat pumps provide energy efficiency and cost savings, and a majority of B.C. residents agree – the province should require these updated technologies to heat and cool new buildings now. Buildings that are constructed today will likely still be around in 2050, so why not build them correctly the first time, instead of having costly retrofits down the road?”

Proposed policies around tackling climate change should be a litmus test for the viability of each party’s platform. Any candidate who claims to be acting in the best interests of the electorate, and who wants to address affordability, needs to have a climate change plan that is honest and aligned with science. Building up emergency response readiness is important, but is a band-aid on a gaping wound that will only get more expensive and deadly if the root causes of climate change go unaddressed. After the election, those elected to form a new legislative assembly must put climate change at the top of their agenda, and act swiftly to implement science-based climate policies that also make life fairer and more affordable for B.C. residents. Acting later is too late.

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Media contacts:

For general comment about the climate crisis and the B.C. election – Liz McDowell, 604-219-6337, liz@stand.earth 

For comment on oil, LNG, electrification and renewable energy – 

Sven Biggs, 778-882-8354, sven@stand.earth and Kiki Wood, kiki@stand.earth, 604-757-7030

For comment on old growth forests, industrial logging, and forest biomass – 

Tegan Hansen, tegan@stand.earth 

For comment on building electrification and progressive building policies – Sunil Singal, 604-368-3536, sunil.singal@stand.earth

For assistance with arranging interviews, please contact Stand.earth’s Canada Communications Specialists:

Arin de Hoog, 613-978-7329, arin.dehoog@stand.earth 

Kathryn Semogas, 778-653-2303, kathryn.semogas@stand.earth