The Law Society of British Columbia has voted down a resolution to form a climate advisory committee, marking the third such rejection in four years.

The resolution failed 1,264 to 747, with 232 members abstaining, after a two-week voting period closed Tuesday, ahead of the society’s annual general meeting Wednesday. Only 11% of eligible members voted.

“It’s a disappointing result, but I believe it really just further underlines how much work there is to be done to raise awareness on the B.C. bar about how climate impacts legal practice,” University of British Columbia law student Max Wilkinson told The Energy Mix after the vote.

“We will continue our work from here.”

Wilkinson is coordinator of the Climate Competent Lawyering Coalition (CCLC), which launched the 2026 resolution campaign alongside a group of fellow law students.

“It is increasingly clear that climate change is impacting and will continue to impact all areas of legal practice,” Wilkinson said in a release ahead of the vote. They cited examples of business lawyers who must advise corporate boards on their duties around addressing climate risk, immigration lawyers facing rising cases of climate-driven displacement, and insurance lawyers navigating new physical, litigation, and transition risks.

“Right now, B.C. lawyers have no mandatory training on climate-competent legal practice,” Wilkinson argued in an op-ed for Canadian Lawyer. “As a result, many lawyers may lack the professional competencies they need to practice law responsibly and ethically in a warming world.”

Lawyers who “do not acknowledge the realities of climate change” risk providing their clients with “incomplete, unsatisfactory, and even unethical services,” they added.

With changes to lawyer regulations in B.C. expected soon, Wilkinson said forming a climate committee has never been more urgent. Current legislation allows any two members of the LSBC to propose resolutions to be voted on at its AGM.

But there will be no such provision once the regulatory changes take effect. That would leave the onus on the new legal regulator’s board or executive members to set up a climate advisory committee.

“In the past, the LSBC executive has been very hesitant to take an action like this without a mandate from its members,” Wilkinson wrote.

Two previous attempts to form a climate advisory committee in 2022 and 2023 both failed, in part due to the mandate issue, as some lawyers questioned whether taking a stance on climate change would fit the role of the LSBC.

The CCLC argues that it does, pointing to section three of the province’s Legal Profession Act, which states “it is the object and duty of the society to uphold and protect the public interest in the administration of justice” by “ensuring the independence, integrity, honour and competence of lawyers,” and “establishing standards and programs for the education, professional responsibility, and competence of lawyers.”

Wilkinson said low voter turnout was a problem in the two past votes on the proposed climate resolutions.