Teck announcement signals fossil fuel industry awakening to climate crisis

Company withdraws application for Frontier tar sands mine, citing concerns about climate change, Indigenous rights

Unceded Coast Salish Territories (VANCOUVER, BC) — Late Sunday, February 23, Teck Resources made public a letter to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Jonathan Wilkinson, informing Wikinson that the Vancouver, BC-based company was withdrawing its application for the Frontier tar sands mine in Alberta. 

The letter cited concerns about climate change and Indigenous rights as a key part of their decision, and said “global capital markets are changing rapidly and investors and customers are increasingly looking for jurisdictions to have a framework in place that reconciles resource development and climate change.”

“Teck’s announcement signals that the fossil fuel industry and its investors are awakening to the growing climate crisis,” said Sven Biggs, Climate and Energy Campaigner at Stand.earth. “It reveals that jurisdictions, like Alberta, that continue to drag their feet on climate change, are in fact harming opportunities for investment and job creation.” 

The decision comes after months of controversy and public protest against what would have been the largest tar sands mine ever built, and amid growing concerns about global climate change and Indigenous rights. This includes a wave of protest in support of the Wet’suwet’en opposition to the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline in Northern B.C., and a federal election campaign dominated by hundreds of thousands of students marching in the streets to demand action on climate change.

“Canada is at a turning point. We must act now to save the climate, and we know it means that we can’t build new tar sands mines or pipelines,” said Biggs. “Canada must get to work building a sustainable economy, which means leaving behind projects like the Frontier Mine and investing in the infrastructure and workers that will build a new future for our country.” 

SInce November 2019, more than 29,000 supporters have signed Stand.earth’s petition to the federal government to reject Teck’s Frontier Mine. Thousands more supporters have visited their Members of Parliament, made phone calls, and written letters to Cabinet members, and written letters to their local newspapers. 

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Media contact: Sven Biggs, Climate & Energy Campaigner, sven@stand.earth, 778-882-8354