A StatsCan report shows estimated greenhouse gas emissions from households in B.C. barely budged in more than a decade, but the government says the figures do not tell the entire story.
Household emissions measured by per-capita dropped by 0.3 per cent between 2009 and 2021, second-worst among provinces behind Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador, whose emissions did not change at all. Prince Edward Island with a reduction of 2.9 per cent and New Brunswick with a reduction of 1.6 per cent led the way across Canada.
Emission estimates published by Statistics Canada stem from the United Nations and differ from the measures Canada and British Columbia use.
That is why the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change said the StatsCan report should not be directly compared to provincial figures. They show provincial greenhouse gas emissions are down five per cent from 2018 when the province launched CleanBC and down four per cent from the 2007 baseline year.
According to a statement from the ministry, StatsCan includes electricity-based emissions. This means provinces with dirtier electricity grids have had more chances to cut emissions, as it was the case in Ontario, whose emissions have decreased significantly since 2014 following the closure of coal-fired power plants in that province.
Such a drop would not have been possible in British Columbia, because 96 per cent of its power comes from hydroelectricity, the ministry said.
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The Canadian Climate Institute comes to the same conclusion.
“Places like B.C. and Manitoba started with lots of hydropower, so their carbon emissions were already lower and stayed lower over the same time period,” Sachi Gibson, research director, mitigation, said. “B.C. also has other strong provincial policies that are affecting change at the household level such as the provincial (zero-emission-vehicle) mandate, strong building codes and heat pump incentives.”
The figures appear against the backdrop of a debate about the future of the carbon tax, which the BC Liberals introduced in 2010, so just one year after the StatsCan study period.
Dale Beugin, carbon pricing expert and executive vice-president with Canadian Climate Institute, called the provincial price system for carbon the “gold standard in cost-effective climate policy” in warning against changes to it.
“Eliminating or diluting the B.C. carbon tax would create economic uncertainty, reduce competitiveness, and set B.C. back in reducing emissions,” Beugin said in November. “The province would need to find other policies that reduce emissions in order to stay competitive in a global economy that is rapidly moving to net zero. Alternative policies would have higher costs, fewer emissions reductions, or both.”
The Conservative Party of BC wants to completely eliminate the tax, whose popularity is declining, while BC United, formerly known as BC Liberals, would cut it on all fuels and stop it from rising. BC United has also promised that would eliminate the provincial carbon tax completely if the federal Conservatives were to be elected. That party has pledged to end the federal carbon tax.
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Premier David Eby of the governing New Democrats has strongly defended the carbon tax, saying in November that his government “won’t back down” on carbon taxation.
He reiterated his government’s commitment to the carbon tax in his year-end-interview.
“In an atmosphere of people struggling with affordability, it is a challenging thing to say, ‘look, we need to take action on climate change,’” he said. “This (carbon tax) is a mechanism that has worked well to reduce pollution in our province and if you don’t have the carbon tax, you are going to have to have something else that funds various pieces of government.”
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While the provincial carbon tax enjoys broad support among environmental groups in B.C., government critics have also pointed out that the current system gives large corporate emitters a break compared to ordinary British Columbians. Environmentalists have also criticized government for continuing to approve liquefied natural gas projects.
“Contrary to what many people claim, we don’t simply support every LNG project that comes along,” George Heyman, environment minister, said last month, pointing to reduction goals under CleanBC.
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wolfgang.depner@blackpress.ca
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