• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
Celebrating our 1,000th edition. The climate news you need
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  FEATURED
BREAKING: No Public Finance for East Coast LNG Projects, Wilkinson Says July 4, 2022
‘Climate Math Gets Harder’ as Radicalized Supreme Court Upends U.S. Carbon Regulation July 4, 2022
Dire Living Conditions, Climate-Driven Heat Wave Produce Deadliest Human Smuggling Event in U.S. History July 4, 2022
Ex-Fossil Workers Convert Old Oilfields to Solar Farms After ‘Rapid Upskilling’ in Alberta June 29, 2022
London Becomes Biggest City to Sign Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty June 29, 2022
Next
Prev
Home Demand & Distribution Cities & Communities

B.C. Cities Narrowly Reject Sending Climate Accountability Letter to 20 Colossal Fossils

September 30, 2018
Reading time: 3 minutes

Qyd/Wikimedia Commons

Qyd/Wikimedia Commons

10
SHARES
 

West Coast Environmental Law and the Georgia Strait Alliance came up short last week, when 47.8% of local officials at the Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM) voted to send a climate accountability letter to 20 of the world’s most colossal fossils. But while “we narrowly lost the vote,” writes WCEL staff lawyer Andrew Gage, “I felt surprisingly good about it”.

Gage and Georgia Strait Alliance campaigner Anna Barford had just spent a week “speaking to mayors, regional board members, and councillors from across the province, explaining why it was important to ensure that the costs of climate change not be left to taxpayers,” Gage writes. “Instead, we believe these costs must be shared with an industry that has made billions of dollars selling the very products that cause climate change.”

They fell short by perhaps a dozen votes. But in just 18 months, Gage says the WCEL-led campaign has made important progress, with 15 local governments and one major local government association signing on, about a dozen B.C. environmental groups joining in, and more than 50 organizations calling on the province to adopt a Liability for Climate-related Harm Act.

“A year and a half ago, the idea of holding fossil fuel companies accountable for climate costs was not a thing,” Gage notes. “Yet here we were, talking with some of B.C.’s hardest working and most underpaid politicians (it ain’t easy being a local government councillor or a mayor, particularly in smaller communities) about this issue.”

His post recounts the detailed arguments for and against the resolution, beginning with Victoria Councillor Ben Isitt asking whether communities should pay 100% of the cost of the climate impacts they experience, and Vancouver Councillor Adrian Carr pointing out that every B.C. community has already seen those impacts.

“In terms of climate change, how many of you have not felt the impacts of climate change in your communities?” Carr asked. “Whether it’s fires this summer, the smoke of which affected virtually everyone in this province, every single one of our communities. How many of you have not felt the impact of more severe winter storms? In Vancouver and the coastal areas it’s weather, more severe storms in the winter; it’s hotter, drier summers. Every one of you in your regions knows what those impacts are. Whether it’s on the health of your people, whether it’s on the forests, whether the ability to grow food in agriculture.”

North Cowichan Councillor and mayoral candidate Al Siebring countered that cities should instead “write a letter to the 20 fossil fuel companies in question thanking them for providing the means for us to come together at this convention.” Another speaker expressed concern that, “although we say it’s just the fossil fuel companies, it’s really aimed at all resource companies. So who’s next? Is it the transportation industry? Is it the agricultural industry? Who’s next that these folks will aim their target on?

In his commentary, Gage agreed that “fossil fuel use is so ingrained in our society that no industry (or individual) can claim to be entirely innocent of producing any greenhouse gas emissions.” But “the fossil fuel industry is unique among industries in that it is actually responsible for removing fossil fuels from the ground. Without that step, emissions from burning that oil, gas, or coal could not occur.”



in Cities & Communities, Climate Action / "Blockadia", Climate Impacts & Adaptation, Drought, Famine & Wildfires, Health & Safety, Legal & Regulatory, Oil & Gas, Severe Storms & Flooding

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Wikimedia Commons
Oil & Gas

BREAKING: No Public Finance for East Coast LNG Projects, Wilkinson Says

July 4, 2022
43
angela n./flickr
United States

‘Climate Math Gets Harder’ as Radicalized Supreme Court Upends U.S. Carbon Regulation

July 4, 2022
40
EdmondMeinfelder/flickr
Environmental Justice

Dire Living Conditions, Climate-Driven Heat Wave Produce Deadliest Human Smuggling Event in U.S. History

July 4, 2022
17

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

opinion polling gender green recovery climate action

Conservative Women Far More Likely Than Men to Support Green Transition, EcoAnalytics Research Finds

July 4, 2022
46
U.S. Navy/picryl

Montreal to Host New NATO Climate Centre as Military Analyst Confronts Global ‘Hyperthreat’

July 4, 2022
45
Wikimedia Commons

BREAKING: No Public Finance for East Coast LNG Projects, Wilkinson Says

July 4, 2022
43
angela n./flickr

‘Climate Math Gets Harder’ as Radicalized Supreme Court Upends U.S. Carbon Regulation

July 4, 2022
40
Maurits90/Wikimedia Commons

San Francisco Commuter Train Derailed by Scorching Track Temperatures, Extreme Heat

July 4, 2022
30
Keith Hirsche

Ex-Fossil Workers Convert Old Oilfields to Solar Farms After ‘Rapid Upskilling’ in Alberta

July 3, 2022
457

Recent Posts

EdmondMeinfelder/flickr

Dire Living Conditions, Climate-Driven Heat Wave Produce Deadliest Human Smuggling Event in U.S. History

July 4, 2022
17
Adrian Grycuk/Wikimedia Commons

Youth Climate Case Moves to Top Tribunal in European Court

July 4, 2022
20
Seci/wikimedia commons

Saudi Aramco Talks Net-Zero, Plans to Boost Production Through 2035

July 4, 2022
11
Keith Weller/Wikimedia Commons

U.S. Methane Plan Gives Big Ag a Free Pass

July 4, 2022
13
Fadi Hage/wikimedia commons

Indoor Farming Revolution Comes with Significant Carbon Cost

July 4, 2022
16
Mont SUTTON snow terrain

Southern Quebec Towns Scramble for Solutions as Water Sources Dwindle

July 4, 2022
21
Next Post
Ian Muttoo/Flickr

Banks Swing into Action as Investors Demand Closer Look at Carbon Risk

The Energy Mix

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}