VANCOUVER/UNCEDED xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (MUSQUEAM), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (SQUAMISH), AND səlilwətaɬ (TSLEIL-WAUTUTH) TERRITORIES — Environmental law charity Ecojustice is sounding the alarm over a concerning shift in the B.C. government’s policies that prioritize LNG development at the expense of B.C.’s climate commitments.
A problematic change to B.C.’s Net-Zero New Industry policy came to light following the quiet publication of a letter from the Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions on the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office’s website in March.
The policy required all proposed LNG facilities in or entering the environmental assessment process to have a credible plan to have net zero emissions by 2030. Such plans largely depended on using clean electricity from the B.C. grid, instead of fossil gas, to power the LNG facilities. However, last month, Minister Dix changed that policy so that LNG facilities now only need a plan to be “net-zero ready” by 2030. This means gas-powered LNG facilities can generate millions of tonnes of climate pollution beyond 2030, if electricity from the B.C. grid is not available.
The amended policy does not set any deadline for when LNG facilities would actually need to reach net zero emissions.
Matt Hulse, Ecojustice lawyer made the following statement in reaction to Minister Dix’s letter: “B.C.’s Net-Zero New Industry Policy was problematic from the start because it relied on using B.C.’s clean, renewable electricity to pretend that LNG – a fossil fuel – could be ‘net-zero,’ and because B.C. would have to divert massive amounts of electricity from the rest of the economy to these LNG terminals.
B.C. now appears to recognize that electricity is in short supply, but instead of seeing this as a limit on LNG development, the Minister has simply changed the rules to allow new LNG facilities to contribute more climate pollution.
For a project like Ksi Lisims LNG, powering the facility with fossil gas instead of electricity means another 1.8 million tonnes of emissions per year. Now, the facility’s ‘net-zero ready’ plan could simply ignore those emissions.
Pretending that these projects are anywhere close to net-zero is the flimsiest possible fig leaf that B.C. could use to cover up the massive harm that B.C.’s LNG will do to the climate. With this policy change, the fig leaf just got smaller.”
Sarah Korpan, Ecojustice government relations and campaign manager added: “The B.C. NDP claims to be a climate leader, but this is yet another instance of them backsliding on climate commitments. When it comes to government accountability and climate action, we were already fighting for scraps. Now, this quiet reinterpretation of policy signals that B.C. isn’t willing to make good on even their lightest of climate commitments.
B.C. is sacrificing the environment for short-term economic gain, but it won’t pay off in the long run. LNG is not an economic solution for B.C. — it’s a dead-end. The global market for LNG is already oversupplied and demand is expected to plateau and decline. Investing in LNG only creates economic and environmental instability, leaving frontline communities to bear the cost.”
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Ecojustice uses the power of the law to defend nature, combat climate change, and fight for a healthy environment. Its strategic, public interest lawsuits and advocacy lead to precedent-setting court decisions and law and policy that deliver lasting solutions to Canada’s most urgent environmental problems. As Canada’s largest environmental law charity, Ecojustice operates offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, and Halifax.
