Latest news with #CleanBC
CBC
2 days ago
- Business
- CBC
B.C. announces expansion of heat pump rebates to renters and condo owners
B.C.'s Energy Ministry has expanded a program to reduce energy use and lower bills for some apartment renters and condo owners. The expansion, part of the Clean B.C. Energy Savings Program, will provide up to $5,000 to support the purchase and installation of high-performance electric heat pumps in individual suites in multi-unit residential buildings, according to the province. "All British Columbians who need a heat pump should have access to one, to feel comfortable in their homes year-round, experience better energy efficiency, and save money. So, we're expanding our support to focus on helping apartment renters and condominium owners," said Adrian Dix, the minister of energy and climate solutions. It's part of $100 million allocated by the province to provide up to 8,300 rebates over two years and applies to suites in condo and apartment buildings that are six storeys and under and are currently heated by electricity. The government says the program will be expanded again in the fall to include those heated by fossil fuels, such as a gas-fired boiler. "We are encouraged by the expansion of the heat pump rebate program to renters and condo owners living in lower-rise MURBs," said Shauna Sylvester, the director of the non-profit Urban Climate Leadership. "It's been difficult for people living in these buildings to get relief from the extreme heat. This program is a step in the right direction in creating healthy, safe and resilient homes for more British Columbians."
Fashion United
3 days ago
- Business
- Fashion United
Debrand awarded funding to target plastic apparel waste
Debrand, a Metro Vancouver-based leader in textile sustainability and circularity logistics for top apparel and retail brands across North America, has been awarded more than 325,000 Canadian dollars in funding from the CleanBC Plastics Action Fund, administered by the Province of British Columbia and Alacrity Canada through the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. The grant has been awarded to support Debrand's new research and development initiative focused on unlocking circular infrastructure for plastic-based apparel and textiles, by diverting those that are currently deemed non-reusable from landfill by integrating them into the region's growing ecosystem of circular material solutions. Amelia Eleiter, co-founder and chief executive of Debrand, said in a statement: "Plastic-derived textiles contribute to a significant portion of today's fashion system, making up about 60 percent of the world's clothing. The industry has a responsibility to reduce its impact by extending the life of the materials that have already been extracted. "This funding allows us to go deeper into understanding apparel's plastic waste stream here in B.C. and apply advanced sortation technology to better understand what's possible, so we can design smarter circular systems that valorise these materials, not waste them." Debrand's initiative will leverage its automated sortation machinery and proprietary software to analyse plastic-based apparel and textiles currently in circulation. By sorting these garments with precision and identifying their material composition, the project aims to better understand the operational and economic requirements needed to prepare these items for appropriate reuse and recycling pathways. The Canadian company is North America's most comprehensive textile sustainability and circularity hub for top apparel, footwear, and retail brands, including Lululemon, Everlane, Aritzia, Canada Goose, Target, and Eileen Fisher. Based in Metro Vancouver, Debrand also has facilities across the US.
National Post
09-06-2025
- Business
- National Post
Adam Pankratz: David Eby's CleanBC initiative a greater hit to economy than Trump's tariffs
Article content Open any book on politics and you will find that, in Canada, the NDP stands for the New Democratic Party. In British Columbia under David Eby, the acronym needs to be updated to — Not Delivering Prosperity. Article content Since Eby and his government took over in 2022, British Columbia has been an economic basket case. The deficit projection for 2025 was revised upwards in March to $10.9 billion — a record — which followed hot on the heels of the 2024 deficit of $9.1 billion — also a record until 2025 stole the deficit crown. The result in April was a downgrade to BC's credit rating from AA to A+. By any measure, the outlook is grim, as total debt for the province is predicted to soar by 70 per cent over the next three years. Article content Article content The ruling NDP and Premier David Eby have been quick to blame economic woes on Donald Trump and his tariff policies. While tariffs are no doubt hurting B.C. — as they are all of Canada — this tactic is already tired. In truth, the damage appears to be mostly self-inflicted, caused by poor budgeting and economic policy driven by ideology rather than actual economics. Article content Article content At the B.C. Chamber of Commerce AGM on June 4th, Ken Peacock, the former Chief Economist at the Business Council of B.C., presented analysis indicating the NDP's CleanBC initiative has actually been a far greater hit to the province's sputtering economy than any tariffs. From 2019-2024 it cost B.C. $29.3 billion in lost GDP and is projected to cost the province a further $109.7 billion between now and 2029. That's David Eby's economic leadership in action: ideology torpedoing economic prosperity for hard working British Columbians. Article content Eby and the NDP will of course point to the fact that they have passed Bill 14 and 15. Bill 15, the Infrastructure Projects Act, is ostensibly a bill to speed up major infrastructure project development, particularly in the resource industry. Eby and the NDP say the bills are 'critically important' to respond to a 'rapidly evolving situation' (read Trump) rather than acknowledge their need as a result of the NDP's actions in creating a provincial economic dud. Bill 15 gives cabinet sweeping powers to override existing regulations for projects in the provincial interest and fast-track them to permitting. It has been met with serious pushback from B.C. Municipalities and from First Nations who claim it ignores their voices and dismisses their rights. Article content Article content While any business which has tried to work in the province's economically critical resource sector may applaud the notion of a government finding ways to stop B.C.'s quagmire of delays and regulatory hell, the bill fails to address the real problem and merely hands unmerited power to a small group of NDP ideologues. This is always the Eby NDP way: power consolidation for decision making. Article content Article content The problem should be obvious to any free-market supporter. Bill 15 does not reignite B.C.'s economy by streamlining regulation for private enterprise; it merely allows cabinet to pick and choose which projects it will decide to ram through any further regulatory oversight. This is ripe for abuse and political interference. It is a pay-to-play system where randomness and arbitrary decisions based on cabinet whims, without clear process, will become the norm. Eby's NDP claim the bill brings investment clarity, in fact, it does anything but. Article content The vague backroom modus operandi of the NDP is, however, consistent in one way. They echo the closed-door decision-making attempts and history of the NDP when deciding how the province's crown land will be used; something essential for investment and resource development. This important process has been shrouded in secrecy on multiple occasions. The latest announcement in this regard covers all of Northwestern B.C. including the mineral-rich Golden Triangle. As a result, nearly a third of British Columbia is now subject to a one year pause on new mining-tenure registrations. This is the exact of opposite of what attracts investment to the province and will send the critical dollars B.C. needs to friendlier investment regions. Article content David Eby's NDP has bankrupted the province and has no plan back for the simple reason that they cannot trust the free market to do its work. They are trapped in an ideologically-driven mindset which does not permit British Columbians to make full use of their own province. This arbitrary and regressive policy must change. Article content
Vancouver Sun
15-05-2025
- Business
- Vancouver Sun
Opinion: B.C.'s climate plan is badly off track
In December 2018, the B.C. government released its bold new plan to reduce climate pollution and build a low-carbon economy. The CleanBC plan promised a heightened level of ambition and a compelling vision for a future that prioritized green technologies, clean electricity, and decarbonization. Today, the provincial government admits it is badly off track to reach its legislated pollution targets. And it has no plan to get there. Indeed, new pipelines (owned by American billionaires) and LNG terminals (built largely overseas) would vent even more planet-warming, health-harming gases into the atmosphere, at great cost to the B.C. public. How did it all go so wrong? At one-time, CleanBC was heralded as the strongest climate plan in North America. The government's own press release boasted the names of prominent climate advocates and experts — including governors from California and Washington — all lauding B.C.'s climate leadership. A daily roundup of Opinion pieces from the Sun and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Informed Opinion will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. But three years later, many who praised the original plan jointly published a scathing rebuke of B.C.'s progress. 'We have lost the confidence we had in the province's climate plan and are sounding the alarm,' they wrote. Unfortunately, the situation has only become more dire. B.C.'s latest Climate Change Accountability Report says the province will miss its 2030 pollution reduction target by 50 per cent. This grim prediction does not account for climate pollution from future LNG terminals. Climate groups have been attempting to hold the government accountable for such failings with annual progress reports of their own. But this latest admission comes from the government's own mouth: 'B.C.'s current policy landscape does not put us on track to meet our 2030 targets,' the report states. The government blames this failure largely on entirely foreseeable population growth, while admitting that the biggest emissions increases came from commercial transport and fossil fuel production — not B.C. households. Even so, the province claims it is charting a course in the right direction. It is nearly impossible for this claim to be true. First off, B.C.'s consumer carbon tax and rebate system is gone. Scrapping the tax meant losing out on $3 billion in annual revenue used to issue cheques to households and fund rebates for heat pumps and electric cars — rebates that are now on the chopping block. Premier Eby promised the consumer carbon tax would be replaced by other measures, including strengthening the industrial carbon price on big polluters. Updates are yet to come. Perhaps even more concerning is the omission of LNG in this latest accountability report. LNG is mentioned only once, a mind-boggling omission considering the province is caught in a frenzy to become a major LNG exporter. B.C. will begin shipping the highly polluting fossil fuel this summer when LNG Canada begins operating in Kitimat. Cedar LNG (a floating LNG facility under construction in Korea) and Woodfibre LNG (another foreign-owned export facility in Squamish) are next in line, with three more export facilities approved or under review. A massive American-backed pipeline in northern B.C. — the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Line — is also awaiting approval. If B.C. moves ahead with these new projects, climate pollution will increase not only in B.C. but worldwide. Shipping 47 million tons of LNG overseas annually (as these projects would collectively do) would produce 125 million tons of carbon pollution when the fuel is burned and have significant health impacts in the communities where the gas is fracked. Importantly, many of these projects are backed by American private equity giants with ties to President Trump, and are facing opposition from First Nations who stand to experience the largest impacts of these projects in their own backyards. The province is disregarding the First Nations people who see what is happening on the ground and want to protect the land and water in their territories. Many First Nations communities are finding innovative ways to respond to the climate crisis by restoring our relationship to the world around us. Instead of supporting these communities, B.C. wants to fast track more projects for the oil and gas industry. While B.C.'s plan encourages 'industrial facilities to connect to clean electricity,' even this requirement is being scaled back as B.C.'s Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions Adrian Dix recently loosened the rules for proposed LNG projects. Failing to truly bend the curve on our pollution is a broken political imperative and a failure to protect the health of British Columbians. It is a failure to preserve our clean water and clean air, and to acknowledge the voices of First Nations people when it comes to the health of the land. In 2018, B.C. had a shiny new climate plan. Not anymore. What remains of the CleanBC program is a shambles. If a 'plan' means having appropriate targets and a credible pathway to attain such targets, then the sad truth is that B.C. no longer has a climate plan. The B.C. government must present something new and ambitious to take its place. Grand Chief Stewart Phillip is president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs. Dr. Melissa Lem is president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. Kai Nagata is communications director with Dogwood BC. Emiko Newman is coordinator of the BC Climate Emergency Campaign. Tracey Saxby is a marine scientist and co-founder of My Sea to Sky. Kiki Wood is a senior oil and gas campaigner with
National Post
08-05-2025
- Business
- National Post
Geoff Russ: B.C.'s grand green plans halted by dwindling power supply
Last week, British Columbia's NDP government announced that its signature CleanBC program, intended to reduce carbon emissions 40 per cent below 2007 levels by the end of the decade, is going to miss its 2030 emissions-reduction target by a wide margin. In fact, just half of the intended reduction is expected to be met. Article content Article content Coincidentally, at the same time, the provincial government announced it was freezing its electric vehicle (EV) rebate program. It was just the first domino to fall in the NDP's CleanBC program, which, unless overhauled, will end in failure, with consumers taking the hardest hit. Article content Even if B.C. does do away with its EV program completely, it will not alter the fact that the province is no longer self-sufficient when it comes to producing electricity. A lack of energy diversification caused by hard-headed green initiatives is to blame. Article content Article content For generations, B.C.'s hydroelectric power was abundant, reliable and cheap. It helped power the province's growth from a rural, resource-oriented economy into the home of Canada's third-largest city and gateway to the Pacific. Article content Today, B.C. has everything. It has lots of natural resources, a growing population and a vibrant commercial capital in Metro Vancouver. This growth, however, has strained the province's energy supply. Article content Without the ability to meet its own electricity needs, British Columbians will go into the future with higher energy bills, and industry will think twice about investing in a province in which electricity is no longer cheap. Article content Drought and a persistently low annual snow-pack are gutting BC Hydro, the Crown corporation responsible for producing the hydroelectricity that powers most of the province. Last year, a staggering 25 per cent of all the electricity used in B.C. was imported from outside the province, at a cost of nearly $1.4 billion. Article content Article content The great irony of this is how it undercuts the CleanBC plan. The imported electricity comes from the United States and Alberta, and is largely generated from fossil fuels. Turning on the lights in supposedly green B.C. still contributes to emissions if that power comes from higher-emitting sources. Article content Article content Proponents of the hydroelectric regime point to the upcoming opening of the Site C dam, which will add 5,100 GWh to the electricity grid, representing about eight per cent of the total electricity supply. Yet demand for power is projected to climb at least 15 per cent by 2030. Article content In 2023, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation warned that B.C. will be facing a severe electricity shortage as early as next year if drought conditions and warmer winters continue to slash the ability of BC Hydro to produce power. Article content Adding to this is the electricity demand of TransLink, which oversees public transit in Metro Vancouver. TransLink aims to fully electrify its operations by 2050, but is slated to suffer a budget deficit of $600 million in 2026, and has proposed raising its fares to make up the difference.
