CleanBC Review - summary of independent report to government
Read the CleanBC plan - March 2019 update.
Yesterday, Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions Adrian Dix was joined by the Green Party of BC’s Jeremy Valeriote, MLA for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky, to deliver the final report of the CleanBC climate plan review.
During the summer, the provincial government paused the BC Active Transportation Infrastructure and Network Planning grants, funding programs that have been in existence almost continuously under different names since the mid-1990s, providing matching funding to local and Indigenous governments for the planning and construction of active transportation routes and facilities.
Transportation context
Since 1993, total GHG emissions in B.C. have risen 20%, largely due to the growth of emissions from road transportation.
GHG emissions from motor vehicles grew by 34%; after energy combustion, road transportation is now B.C.’s largest source of emissions
Motor vehicles account for almost 1/4 of all GHG emissions in B.C.; road transportation contributes more emissions than industry, agriculture, waste, and land use combined.
CleanBC was introduced in 2018 “as a pathway to a more prosperous, balanced, and sustainable future.” Since launch, CleanBC has driven the following investments in transportation:
2018/19 - 36m
2019/20 - 105m
2020/21 - 289m
2021/22 - 226m
2022/23 - 310m
2023/24 - 347m
Some of this investment has supported active transportation, such as:
via matching grants (to municipalities/FNs/NGOs) for infrastructure and planning projects
to incentive programs like for the e-bike rebate
to support events and programs such as those operated by BCCC, BEST Mobility, Capital Bike, GoByBike BC and HUB Cycling, and many other groups
Funds have also supported electric vehicle and plug-in hybrrd technology development, EV subsidies, and supporting EV infrastructure and programs.
The Report
The live stream of the report presentation (beginning at 3m30s of this recording) included an introduction to the report’s consulting team, which was responsible for leading the review and providing recommendations to government.
The report’s two primary takeaway recommendations to government were:
Protect affordability
Keep BC competitive
The overall message from the consulting team: CleanBC is working. Other recommendations include:
Renew CleanBC, not retreat; extend and strengthen approaches that are working
Calibrate approaches for regional fairness, affordability and achievability; focus on making it easier to adopt solutions
Recycle any revenues that come from climate solutions resulting from CleanBC climate policies “back into climate solutions, and to do that transparently”
Among the report’s eight principles and seven priorities, there is scant mention of changes required in transportation, such as encouraging or facilitating mode shifts among British Columbians away from road transportation.
The report includes a suggestion to remove the province’s planned ban on internal combustion engine vehicles and EV mandate in order to give British Columbians "choice"
Royalty payments to the province from natural gas production is positioned as an “economic decision”, and the fact that “LNG emissions will go up...is inescapable”
The report suggests that GHG emissions from other sectors will have to go down, without providing any specifics as to which sectors, how much, or how
The report also suggests B.C. will double-down on mining and precious metal extraction, due to the fact that “critical minerals are needed for clean energy technologies”.
There were no apparent mentions of investment in walking or cycling, nor the impact of advocacy-run programs that have resulted in demonstrable reductions in Vehicle Kilometres Travelled (VKTs) and greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), such as BC Bike Valet and GoByBike Week.