VANCOUVER — VANCOUVER | UNCEDED xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (MUSQUEAM), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (SQUAMISH) AND səlilwətaɬ (TSLEIL-WAUTUTH) TERRITORIES — The David Suzuki Foundation released the following statement after the B.C. lieutenant-governor asked NDP Leader David Eby to form government.
B.C. is at a pivotal moment for acting on the interconnected climate and biodiversity crises. A clear majority of voters put their trust in the two parties that promised continued climate action. With extreme weather events such as atmospheric rivers and devastating wildfires becoming the “new normal,” the new B.C. government is well positioned to continue progress it’s already made by adding policies and regulations missing from the climate plan.
Many of those policies, such as helping households get off fossil fuels through rebates for heat pumps and energy efficiency upgrades, help bring down emissions and address affordability challenges that were top of mind this election.
Climate change is costing our communities enormously, and polluted air from burning fossil fuels and fracking for gas is costing our health care system. Acting on climate is a good economic investment, with jobs in clean sectors growing rapidly. The opportunities to transition away from oil, gas and coal are also good economic choices with reliable renewables such as solar offering the lowest prices for energy in history.
Authoritative bodies such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the International Energy Agency are telling all governments to act with more urgency and ambition.
Now B.C. must reassess whether the liquefied natural gas industry is the economic panacea businesses have been counting on. Forecasts indicate a glut in LNG supply in as few as six years, there are signs that the Asia market for B.C. LNG is weakening and B.C. is an uncompetitive latecomer compared to low-cost suppliers like Qatar.
Alongside ambitious climate action, the new government has a responsibility to meet global and domestic targets to halt and reverse nature loss, which is occurring at unprecedented rates. That means protecting at least 30 per cent of land and water by 2030, upholding the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and turning the page on endless extraction.
A healthy environment and climate are fundamental requirements for our province’s healthy economic future. In this election, people in B.C. have demonstrated that they want environmental leadership from their government.
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Media contact:
Theresa Beer, tbeer@davidsuzuki.org; 778-874-3396