Sierra Club BC media availability on last day of COP26 and what it means for B.C.

Please be advised that Sierra Club BC’s Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner Jens Wieting is available to comment on the emerging UN agreements from COP26, scheduled to end today, and what they mean for B.C.

“The ineffective pledges coming out of COP26 and the weak plans to fulfill them are devastating and put us on course for climate breakdown. The most important outcome of this conference is that public pressure has made it impossible to ignore the elephants in the room: climate action that actually allows for survival with a plan to end fossil fuel production; making climate justice a reality, in particular for Indigenous Peoples; and protecting ecosystems and biodiversity, not as offsets, but as an indispensable pillar of climate policy,” said Jens Wieting, senior forest and climate campaigner at Sierra Club BC.

“It’s ironic for B.C. to receive an ‘Under2’ award when everything suggests that the province’s current path is a blueprint for catastrophic warming above 2 degrees. This after five years of growing climate pollution, increasing fossil fuel subsidies to expand fracking, a 2030 target inconsistent with IPCC findings, and skyrocketing uncounted forest management emissions with no target or plan to reduce them. Without addressing the elephants in the room, this province remains part of those jurisdictions that present a threat for the future of humanity, not a model for survival. As COP26 ends, the real work is only just beginning, at home,” said Wieting.

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Media contact:

Jens Wieting, Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner | Sierra Club BC
jens@sierraclub.bc.ca, (604) 354-5312