B.C. sued by Environment Group Government alleges its climate plan does not adequately address emission targets

Article content

B.C. An environmental group in B.C. is suing the B.C. The government claims it has not provided a detailed plan to meet its climate change targets.

Article content

Sierra Club B.C. was represented by Ecojustice, an environmental law charity. The suit was filed Tuesday in B.C. Supreme Court against Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy because he failed to provide details about how the province plans on meeting its emissions targets beyond 2030.

TheClimate Change Accountability BillThe government must publish an annual report on how it plans for progress towards its climate targets. B.C. targets for provincial-level GHG emissions to be less than 2007 levels by 2030. It also wants to see at least 60% reduction by 2040 and 80 percent reduction by 2050.

But Sierra Club alleges The 2021 accountability ReportIt is woefully inadequate by failing to include a plan to meet the 2025, 2040, and 2050 climate targets. It also fails to include a plan for reducing carbon pollution from the oil-and-gas sector, which is mainly driven by the provinces’ natural gas sector.

Article content

The B.C. The Ministry of Environment responded to the suit by emailing a brief statement on Thursday

We are proud to be part of the continent’s leading CleanBC plan. We are unable to comment on the details of this matter, as the matter may be before the courts.

Through the environmental assessment process, British Columbia approved the construction and operation two liquefied natural gases (LNG) plants. According to court documents, three other LNG projects are currently in the environmental assessment phase and are being considered for development.

According to the suit, all of these projects will have an impact on B.C.’s ability to achieve its oil and gas sector targets as well as its 2040-2050 targets.

British Columbians are now suffering from climate change. This law was intended to bring transparency and accountability to climate action after years of broken promises and missed targets. In a statement, Alan Andrews, Ecojustice’s climate program director, stated that the government has failed in its commitment to meet its climate targets.

Article content

Andrews claims that the failure of the ministry undermines the B.C. Andrews claims that the failure of the ministry undermines the B.C.’s climate leadership credentials and risks locking in a high-carbon future for the province.

He stated that the public has the right to know if their government has any real plans to tackle climate change.

The global authority on climate science warned in February that the climate collapse is fast approaching and that there is little chance of averting catastrophe. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world will face unavoidable climate risks over the next 20 years. A global warming of 1.5 C or even temporarily more than this will cause widespread destruction and catastrophic loss of life and infrastructure.

Article content

On Tuesday, the federal government revealed a federal climate strategy. It is in line with B.C.’s emission-reduction ambitions. It was revealed that Canada’s oil and gas industry must reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 42% from their current levels by 2030 in order to meet its new targets.

Sierra Club states that B.C.’s plan to meet its oil and gas sector target is critical to ensure that one the most polluting parts of the economy contributes to provincial targets.

B.C.’s greenhouse-gas emissions rose to 68.6 million tonnes in 2019, from 66 million tonnes in 2017. According to the latest figures, greenhouse-gas emissions in B.C. rose to 68.6 millions tonnes in 2019, from 66 million tonnes in 2017.To the Climate Accountability Report.According to the government’s CleanBC climate actions, these emissions will be reduced to 55.2 Million Tonnes by 2030.

[email protected]

With a file by Derrick Penner