It’s Getting Hot In Here

“This government will firmly establish British Columbia standards for action on climate change.”

Yesterday (Feb 13), upon the opening of the Third Session of the Thirty-Eighth Parliament of the Province of British Columbia, Premier Campbell’s liberal government announced its intention to “take concerted provincial action to halt and reverse the growth in greenhouse gases.” The “Throne Speech” (full text available here) delivered by The Lieutenant Governor, The Honourable Iona Campagnolo, expressed the government’s goal of reducing BC’s greenhouse gas emissions “by at least 33 per cent below current levels by 2020” (in Kyoto terms: this will put BC at 10 per cent under 1990 levels by 2020). Included is a “Climate Action Team” that will set interim reduction targets for 2012 and 2016 as well as a long-term target for 2050. This team will also establish a plan to make the BC government “carbon-neutral by 2010.”

Also included in the speech was a commitment that “effective immediately, B.C. will become the first jurisdiction in North America, if not the world, to require 100 per cent carbon sequestration for any coal-fired electricity project.” This move should, in effect, keep any coal-fired electricity plant, including proposed projects in Princeton (see Elissa’s blog) and Tumbler Ridge, out of the province for several years as the implied technology has yet to become viable.

The speech also included the following (extensive list of) commitments to curb climate change:

-All electricity produced in B.C. will have net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2016.

- 90 per cent of B.C.’s electricity will come from clean, renewable sources.

-Oil and gas industry GHG emissions will be reduced to 2000 levels by 2016, including a zero-flaring requirement at producing wells and production facilities.

-A new $25-million “Innovative Clean Energy Fund” will be established to encourage commercialization of alternative energy solutions such as bioenergy, geothermal energy, tidal, run-of-the river, solar, and wind power.

-Tailpipe emission standards for all new vehicles sold in B.C. will be phased in between 2009 and 2016, reducing carbon dioxide emissions from autos by 30 per cent.

-A low-carbon fuel standard will be established to reduce carbon intensity of all passenger vehicles by at least 10 per cent by 2020.

-Extension of $2,000 sales tax exemption on new hybrid vehicles.

-All new cars leased or purchased by the Province will be hybrids as of this month.

-A new unified B.C. Green Building Code will be developed with industry and communities.

-Legislation will be developed to phase in requirements for methane capture at landfills, the source of about nine per cent of B.C.’s greenhouse gas emissions.

-New incentives to retrofit existing homes and buildings make them energy efficient.

-New measures will help homeowners undertake “energy audits” to identify possible energy savings.

-Real-time, in-home smart metering will help homeowners measure and reduce energy consumption.

-Province will consider ways of encouraging personal consumer choices that are environmentally responsible.

-Through seismic upgrades, Parliament Buildings will include new standards of energy efficiency.

-New strategies will be launched to promote Pacific Green universities, colleges, hospitals, schools, prisons, ferries, and airports.

-The Province will substantially increase its tree-planting efforts.

-The Province will ensure school curricula inform students how they can reduce individual impacts on the environment at home and at work.

-Beehive burners will be eliminated.

-Trees infested by the mountain pine beetle will be used to create new, clean energy.

-A federal-provincial partnership will invest $89 million for hydrogen fuelling stations and the world’s first fleet of 20 fuel cell buses. The new fuelling stations are part of the initial phase of the hydrogen highway from Whistler to Vancouver, Surrey, and Victoria.

-The Province will work with Pacific states to encourage a hydrogen highway from Whistler to San Diego by 2020. It would be the longest hydrogen highway in the world.

-This spring, the Province will invite all Pacific Coast governors and key ministers to B.C. to forge a new Pacific Coast Collaborative extending from Alaska to California.

-B.C. will work with its neighbours to create electrified truck stops to reduce idling.

-The Premier will meet with governors to assess and address the impact of climate change on our oceans and establish common standards for Pacific ports.

-The Province will seek federal co-operation to electrify ports and reduce container ship carbon emissions in all Canadian ports.

- The Province will work with the federal government and Pacific partners to develop a sensible, efficient system to register, trade, and purchase carbon offsets and credits.

The government also announced initiatives to increase conservation through a new “Citizen’s Conservation Council” with new parks and extensions to existing ones. Changes will also be introduced to strengthen forest stewardship and reduce forest fire risk and initiatives will be taken to address housing and urban sprawl.

According to The Globe and Mail, the Provincial governments program is “tougher in parts than Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s vaunted green plan in California.” The far reaching and ambitious goals outlined in the Liberal speech have yet to be described in detail, however “climate and energy plans” are expected to be announced soon. According to NDP Leader Carole James “Gordon Campbell is known for lots of flowery words and grabbing on to the issue of the day, but he has a terrible record of actually following through.” This speech does comes at a politically strategic time with climate change becoming an increasingly popular issue, however, the attention to climate change and urgency of taking action is encouraging nonetheless. It is now the responsibility of legislators, the news media, and all constituents to hold the provincial government accountable to their commitments.

In the words of Lieutenant Governor Campagnolo: “The science is clear. It leaves no room for procrastination. Global warming is real. The more timid our response is, the harsher the consequences will be.”