Global Warming in the Hot Seat

By Guy Dauncey

While we are encouraged by its provincial Climate Action Plan, we are still willing to be impressed by the BC government's commitments on the global warming front. The Carbon Tax; $14 billion for public transit with a doubling of the number of buses by 2020; new LiveSmartBC program with incentives for building efficiency upgrades, groundsource heat, insulation and smart meters; funding for solar hot water - these are all positive initiatives.

The problem is threefold:

First, the glaring contradictions still exist, chiefly in the $300 million a year of subsidies going to the oil and gas industry, and the continued commitment to the $4 billion Gateway Program of new roads and bridges on the lower mainland. The fossil fuel subsidies should all be phased out, and the Gateway should be turned into the Greenway Program, with congestion tolls on all the major arteries, and the income being poured into transit, LRT, cycling, teleworking, ridesharing, and luxury commuter coaches.

The second problem is the resistance the government is getting to even the smallest of revenue neutral carbon taxes, at $10 a tonne (2.3 cents per litre of gas). The message of the seriousness of the crisis is not getting through, especially in rural BC and the north. We need major public engagement that will get every family, school, workplace, club, and place of worship engaged in the effort to reduce our collective carbon footprint.

Third, the climate alarm bells are ringing so strongly that our meager goal of a 33% reduction below the 2007 level is nowhere near enough: that's only a 10% reduction below the 1990 level. The European Union has made a commitment to a 30% reduction below 1990, Germany to a 40% reduction, and the Kalmar region of Sweden to a 100% reduction by 2030. This is the goal we should be pursuing - a 100% reduction by 2030. The small town of Gussing, in eastern Austria, has achieved a 93% reduction since 1995, so everything is possible.

We need to see the transition to a zero-carbon economy not as a painful difficulty, but as an exciting journey into a world where we don't depend on oil, gas or coal, and are no longer vulnerable to the craziness of the global oil and gas prices.

Guy Dauncey is President of the BC Sustainable Energy Association (www.bcsea.org).