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Tag Archive for: climate change

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BC’s clean growth plan: A major step forward in the race to combat the climate crisis

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By Executive Director Hannah Askew

December 5, 2018

Today, B.C. announced its new clean growth plan. CleanBC is a major step forward in the race to combat the climate crisis and secure a better future for British Columbians.

It’s a bold move to defend our communities from climate impacts and build a strong clean energy economy that works for everyone.

Premier John Horgan, George Heyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy (and Sierra Club BC’s former executive director) and Andrew Weaver, climate scientist and leader of the BC Green Party, deserve genuine praise for what they’ve achieved in pulling this plan together.

CleanBC brings forward specific, concrete measures to get us 75% towards our 2030 carbon pollution reduction target. The plan commits to a full accounting of how it will achieve the remaining 25% with the next 18-24 months.

We especially like the accountability mechanisms that are built into the plan, which will be legislated, and will include annual reporting.

We’ll be watching to ensure that the climate advisory council has sufficient budget and capacity to do its work, can set interim sectoral targets and has the ability to revise pollution reduction targets in future in light of the latest science.

Is the plan perfect? Far from it. Its targets for the reduction of carbon pollution are not ambitious enough in view of the evolving climate science, as our senior forest and climate campaigner Jens Wieting has been highlighting ever since the targets were announced back in May.

As Jens stated today, the most fundamental measure of accountability for climate leadership is whether it keeps our world below 1.5 degrees of warming. If we are to support livable communities into the future, we must reduce carbon pollution faster than currently planned, alongside all that is praiseworthy in this plan.

We’re concerned that this government continues to be committed to LNG, given the massive carbon footprint of the LNG Canada project alone. The provincial strategy leaves it unclear how much carbon pollution is allowed from LNG terminals, and what binding mechanism will be used to ensure they cannot increase above a certain level. Ultimately, it’s counter-productive to act to reduce carbon pollution on the one hand, while on the other hand expanding fossil fuel extraction.

There is also no mention of how we will meet our 2050 pollution reduction targets.

But in today’s polarized world, in which far too many politicians and political parties are backsliding on climate, the CleanBC plan is a bold and welcome step forward. It will not only benefit those of us here today, it will also benefit future generations.

I was struck by the words of Musqueam Elder and knowledge keeper Shane Pointe at today’s announcement. He pointed to Xavier, the five-month-old baby of Energy Minister Michelle Mungall, telling us that we need to be acting today, not just for ourselves, but for the great-great-great-grandchildren of baby Xavier.

That is the vision and prioritization we must bring to the enormous challenge presented to us by the climate crisis. Actions today must be for the long, long term and must protect the needs of our upcoming generations.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has stressed we have twelve years to turn the tide, keep warming under 1.5 degrees and avoid the worst climate impacts on our health, communities and economy. This plan moves us significantly in the right direction, yet we must do more.

In 2019, we’ll be working to help make the CleanBC plan even stronger.

Donate to mobilize climate action

While we work to improve CleanBC, we will also endorse and celebrate what’s good about the plan and encourage our family, friends and neighbours to support it too. Here in B.C., just like many other parts of Canada and the world, people are fearful of climate change and concerned that climate action will hurt them rather than help.

We need to show that climate action involves a just economic transformation that will provide new opportunities and good jobs, and will give British Columbia a competitive advantage over jurisdictions that cling to outdated fossil fuel investment.

We need to do this to ensure that the measures in CleanBC have the kind of staying power that is only possible with broad public support. I believe the climate crisis means we have to move beyond partisan conflict. Politicians and parties of all stripes need to come together and work toward our common good.

We’ll be working hard in 2019 to call on our governments for even bolder action on climate change. Please donate today to help us make this happen.

Donate to call for even bolder climate action

Feature image: Elizabeth Stilwell

Sierra Club BC hails Clean BC as important step forward

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Cautions more work needed

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

December 5, 2018

VANCOUVER—B.C.’s clean growth plan is a major step forward in the race to combat the climate crisis and secure a better future for British Columbians, said Sierra Club BC. Moving forward, more will need to be done to build on the strategy’s strengths, namely ensuring our targets are based on science and stopping new major energy projects that increase emissions.

“We welcome today’s announcement as an important step forward and a good day for all British Columbians. This is an excellent step towards defending our communities from climate impacts and building a strong clean energy economy that works for everyone,” said Caitlyn Vernon, Sierra Club BC’s campaigns director.

Since any plan is only as good as how it is implemented, Sierra Club BC welcomes the accountability mechanisms built into the Clean BC plan.

“The plan delivers specific, effective actions with transparent reporting and accountability, which deserves both applause and support,” said Vernon. “We will be watching to ensure that the climate advisory council has sufficient budget and capacity to do its work, can set interim sectoral targets and has the ability to revise pollution reduction targets in future in light of the latest science.”

Sierra Club BC is concerned that the plan will not reduce carbon pollution as much or as fast as the climate science tells us is needed.

The government’s continued commitment to LNG remains a matter of deep concern, given the massive carbon footprint of the LNG Canada project alone. The provincial strategy leaves it unclear how much carbon pollution is allowed from LNG terminals, and what binding mechanism will be used to ensure they cannot increase above a certain level.

“The most fundamental measure of accountability for climate leadership is whether it keeps our world below 1.5 degrees of warming,” said senior forests and climate campaigner Jens Wieting. “If we are to support livable communities into the future, we must reduce carbon pollution faster than currently planned, alongside all that is praiseworthy in this plan.”

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has stressed we have twelve years to turn the tide, keep warming under 1.5 degrees and avoid the worst climate impacts on our health, communities and economy. This plan moves us significantly in the right direction, yet we must do more.

The Clean BC plan details exactly how 75 per cent of B.C.’s 2030 carbon reduction target will be achieved, and sets out a timeline for detailing how the remaining 25 per cent reduction will be met in the next two years. There is no mention of how we will meet our future (2050) pollution reduction targets.

“While we believe this plan should be celebrated today and implemented starting tomorrow, it’s worth noting that we could more easily get to 100 per cent without LNG in the mix,” said Vernon. “It’s counter-productive to act to reduce carbon pollution on the one hand, while on the other hand expanding fossil fuel extraction.

“We are calling on all British Columbians to support this plan, and to work together to strengthen it into the future, in a way that replaces divisiveness with cooperation, and rejects partisanship in favour of our common interests.”

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Contact:

Caitlyn Vernon
Campaigns Director, Sierra Club BC
(250) 896-3500
caitlyn@sierraclub.bc.ca

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

Event: What’s up in the woods

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Wednesday, December 5th, 2018

6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Victoria Events Centre
1415 Broad Street, Victoria, British Columbia, V8W 2B2

RSVP on Facebook

Join the Wilderness Committee, Ancient Forest Alliance and Sierra Club BC  for an update on Vancouver Island’s remaining old-growth rainforests and the movement to protect them!

Come hear what our organizations are doing to address this crisis and how you can get involved. We want to hear you concerns and share ideas on how we can protect these vital ecosystems before it’s too late. So join us, and bring a friend!

Event info:
– Doors at 6:30pm
– Hear from Ancient Forest Alliance Andrea Inness, Sierra Club BC’s Mark Worthing and Wilderness Committee’s Torrance Coste, followed by Q+A and community discussion starting at 7pm

Accessibility:
– The Victoria Event Centre currently does not have an operational elevator, and there is one long flight of stairs at the venue entrance. If you would like to attend the event but require assistance with accessing the space, please contact us at events@victoriaeventcentre.ca and VEC staff will do their best to accommodate.
– More detailed venue accessibility info is available at https://victoriaeventcentre.ca/attendees/accessibility
– Washrooms are for all genders.

***This event is being held on the unceded Lekwungen territories of the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations. The organizers recognize that every tree on the coast grows on the territory of an Indigenous Nation and that any solutions that protect forests must centre the rights of these Nations first and foremost

Background Info:
The vast majority of productive, low-elevation old-growth rainforest on Vancouver Island has already been logged. We need to protect what remains in order to insure the survival of these ecosystems and the Indigenous cultural resources, endangered species and tourism and recreational opportunities that they provide.

Every day, more than 34 soccer fields of original rainforest are destroyed, on Vancouver Island alone. At the same time, this industry isn’t sustainable from an economic and community perspective either — in the last decade, BC’s forestry sector has lost six jobs a day on average.

How can we protect remaining old-growth ecosystems before it’s too late? How can we ensure the rights, title and authority of the Indigenous Nations in whose territories all forests grow is truly respected? How can we build a just transition to a sustainable second-growth forest industry that can provide livelihoods in communities in perpetuity?

These are the questions our organizations are looking to solve, and we need your help!

Event: Is LNG ‘clean’? The fracked up truth

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Thursday November 22, 2018

18:30-20:30

HiVE Vancouver
210 – 128 West Hastings Street

Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh Territory (Vancouver)

Hosted by Sierra Club BC and the Wilderness Committee

The federal and provincial governments say that “Clean LNG” will baseline BC’s new economy while acting on climate change, but what does LNG—liquefied fracked gas—really mean for our future?

Join us for an evening of conversation with experts from across the province as they uncover the truth behind LNG as an immediate threat to Indigenous rights, public health, and the climate we rely on. Speakers include Freda Huson, Unist’ot’en Hereditary Spokesperson, Marc Lee, Senior Economist from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and Élyse Caron Beaudoin, health researcher at the Université de Montréal.

Come learn about why this is a critical moment in the LNG and fracking industry’s trajectory. Let’s talk about using this unprecedented opportunity to change course towards an economy that truly respects the environment and the lives it supports.

RSVP on Facebook

This event takes place on the unceded territories of the Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Accessibility info:

HiVE is up a flight of stairs and there is no elevator, unfortunately. The building is located on bus routes #20, #14, #16 with #22 and #19 one block away on Pender Street. There are pay parking lots on Abbott and Pender streets.

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