VANCOUVER, BC – Wilderness Committee is exasperated that the provincial government has failed to fully implement the report of its own climate leadership team.

The 32 recommendations put forward by the government’s own team of experts were considered by environmentalists to be the bare minimum for BC to have any credibility on climate change.

“After months of stalling, the government has dumped a toothless plan on a Friday afternoon in August with a half-hearted shrug,” said Climate Campaigner Peter McCartney. “As floods, droughts and a record low salmon run in the Fraser blanket the news, it’s irresponsible and unacceptable that our so-called leaders refuse to act.”

Two of the key recommendations — restarting increases to the carbon tax, which has been frozen since 2012 and setting a new target for 2030, since the province says it will miss its 2020 goal to reduce emissions by one-third — were left out of the plan announced today.

“This government has already broken the law by failing to put us on track for our 2020 targets,” said McCartney. “What’s needed to make up for lost time is to aggressively raise the carbon tax.”

Instead, the province’s plan claims replanting forests lost to wildfires and the mountain pine beetle will shoulder the bulk of their emissions.

“This argument is absurd. They’re saying that because trees exist we can keep polluting and even build a brand new fossil fuel industry,” said McCartney. “Creative carbon accounting doesn’t change that this government has completely ignored commitments to reduce carbon pollution.”

While other provinces are working hard to reduce their emissions, today’s plan shows British Columbia’s carbon footprint will continue to rise, especially if the government’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) ambitions come to fruition.

“Today’s announcement should be a sign to the federal government that the BC government has no plans to reign in its rising emissions,” said McCartney. “We’ve heard from the Prime Minister that he will act if the provinces will not. He could start by rejecting the climate nightmare that is the Pacific Northwest LNG project.”

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For more information, please contact:
Peter McCartney | Climate Campaigner, Wilderness Committee
778-239-1935, peter@wildernesscommittee.org