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B.C. Climate News May 9 to May 15: World could see 1.5 C warming in 5 years, WMO reports |B.C.’s ‘blue carbon’ estuaries a powerful defence against climate change | Coastal GasLink pipeline fined again for lack of erosion control

Here's your weekly roundup of climate change news for the week of May 9 to May 15, 2022.

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Here’s your weekly update with what you need to know about global climate change and the steps B.C. is taking to address the climate and ecological crises for the week of May 9 to May 15, 2022.

This week in climate news:

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•The series, Fire & Flood: Facing Two Extremes, a four-month investigation reveals that B.C. has fallen dangerously short of what’s required to protect our cities and towns from climate crisis-related disasters, continues.
• Coastal GasLink pipeline fined again for lack of erosion control
• Northern premiers call for more federal funding in fight against climate change

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The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned for years that wildfires, drought, severe weather, such as B.C.’s deadly heat dome in June, and flooding would become more frequent and more intense because of the climate crisis.

Last August, it issued a “code red” for humanity and earlier this year the panel, made up of hundreds of scientists from around the world, said the window to stop global warming from exceeding 1.5 C was closing.

Last month, it released a report with solutions for how to drive down greenhouse gas emissions. There is a global scientific consensus on climate change. Multiple studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals show that human activities are the primary cause of the climate crisis.

Check back here every Saturday for a roundup of the latest climate and environmental stories. You can also get up to date B.C.-focussed news delivered to your inbox by 7 a.m. by subscribing to our newsletter here.


A glance at B.C.’s carbon numbers:

  • B.C.’s gross greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2019 (latest available data:) 68.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e.) This is an increase of 3.0 MtCO2e, or 5 per cent since 2007, the baseline year.
  • B.C.’s net emissions in 2019: 67.2 MtCO2e, an increase of 1.5 MtCO2e, or two per cent, since 2007.
  • B.C.’s 2030 target: 40 per cent reduction in net emissions below 2007 levels.
  • B.C.’s 2040 target: 60 per cent reduction.
  • B.C.’s 2050 target: 80 per cent reduction.
  • Canada’s 2030 emissions target: Between 40 and 45 per cent reduction.
  • Canada’s 2050 emissions target: Net-zero.

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Climate change quick facts:

  • The Earth is now about 1.1 C warmer than it was in the 1800s.
  • Globally, 2021 was the fifth warmest year on record.
  • Human activities have raised atmospheric concentrations of COby nearly 49 per cent above pre-industrial levels starting in 1850.
  • The world is not on track to meet the Paris Agreement target to keep global temperature from exceeding 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels, the upper limit to avoid the worst fallout from climate change.
  • 2015-2019 were the five warmest years on record while 2010-2019 was the warmest decade on record.
  • On the current path of carbon dioxide emissions, the temperature could increase by as much as 4.4 C by the end of the century.
  • In 2019, greenhouse gas concentrations reached new highs. Carbon dioxide levels were 148 per cent of preindustrial levels.
  • Emissions must drop 7.6 per cent per year from 2020 to 2030 to keep temperatures from exceeding 1.5 C and 2.7 per cent per year to stay below 2 C.
  • 97% of climate scientists agree that the climate is warming and that human beings are the cause.

(Source: United Nations IPCCWorld Meteorological Organization,UNEP, Nasa, climatedata.ca)

Source: NASA
Source: NASA
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LATEST CLIMATE NEWS

World could see 1.5 C of warming in next five years, WMO reports

The world faces a 50 per cent chance of warming of 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels, if only briefly, by 2026, the World Meteorological Organization said on Monday.

That does not mean the world would be crossing the long-term warming threshold of 1.5 C (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), which scientists have set as the ceiling for avoiding catastrophic climate change.

But a year of warming at 1.5 C could offer a taste of what crossing that long-term threshold would be like.

“We are getting measurably closer to temporarily reaching the lower target of the Paris Agreement,” said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas, referring to climate accords adopted in 2015.

The likelihood of exceeding 1.5 C for a short period has been rising since 2015, with scientists in 2020 estimating a 20 per cent chance and revising that last year up to 40 per cent.

Even one year at 1.5 C of warming can have dire impacts, such as killing many of the world’s coral reefs and shrinking Arctic sea ice cover.

Read the full story here.

—Reuters

B.C.’s ‘blue carbon’ estuaries a powerful defence against climate change

B.C.’s coastline estuaries are more effective at capturing and storing greenhouse gases than forests and can also limit climate change-related flood damage, according to new research from the University of Victoria.

alt marshes, mud flats and eel grass meadows make up some of the most efficient carbon sinks in B.C. and could store that carbon for millennia, researchers say, storing roughly twice the amount of carbon as a similarly sized forest.

So-called blue carbon — carbon dioxide captured from the atmosphere by marine plants and algae — collects as organic debris in estuary sediments where low-oxygen conditions prevent their decomposition.

“They’re very efficient at converting carbon dioxide into organic carbon,” Tristan Douglas, a researcher at the University of Victoria’s school of earth and ocean sciences, said of estuaries.

Researchers took samples from multiple sites in the Cowichan estuary to assess the estuary’s blue carbon stores, grouping sample sites according to ocean depth, vegetation and human development.

Read the full story here.

—Nathan Griffiths

Coastal GasLink pipeline fined again for lack of erosion control

The Coastal GasLink Pipeline under construction in B.C. has been levied its second fine for allowing erosion and not controlling sediment along the route.

On Monday, B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Office said a $170,000 fine had been issued for non-compliance with a 2014 agreement the company made to protective sensitive wetlands and waterways along the route.

A fine of $72,500 was issued by the office in February for similar reasons.

There have been 40 inspections conducted by the office since construction of the 650-kilometre natural gas pipeline from Dawson Creek to Kitimat began in 2019.

The project is owned by TC Energy, a publicly listed company founded in Alberta.

—Staff reporter

Low-carbon fuel to reduce emissions, but could make fuel more expensive in B.C.

B.C.’s energy minister found himself on the defensive for failing to rein in runaway prices at the pumps during an announcement on Monday of a plan to make some of the fuel that flows to the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island cleaner.

Bruce Ralston was forced to admit that a low-carbon diesel plan for B.C.’s largest oil refinery could eventually make conventional fuels more expensive. B.C. drivers are already balking at the cost to fill up, with gas prices as high as $2.23 a litre at some Metro Vancouver stations.

Other than citing the one-time $110 fuel rebate from ICBC, Ralston had no answers on what the province can do to control soaring fuel prices.

“I’m acutely aware of the impact that increased prices are having — whether it’s on businesses or on households where you have to get your kids to soccer or school. But we’re doing what we can and we’ll consider other measures,” Ralston told reporters.

Ralston appeared alongside Bob Espey, CEO of Calgary-based oil company Parkland Corp., to announce a plan for B.C.’s largest oil refinery to pump out more low-carbon diesel to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Read the full story here.

—Katie DeRosa

Fire & Flood, Facing Two Extremes: Spend now or future wildfires will be far worse in B.C.

Part 3 of the series Fire & Flood: Facing Two Extremes explores why critical measures to protect communities from wildfires have not been taken.

On a cool mid-March day, Garnet Mierau stood in the forest at the north edge of the town of Logan Lake in the B.C. Interior.

He stood on a boundary of sorts.

On one side, the ground and standing trees are badly burned, some like blackened match sticks.

On the other, the forest is burned but more lightly. The bark on trees, many Douglas fir with thick bark naturally adapted to fire, have been scorched but only waist high.

On the forest floor, much of the soil and its covering, carrying seeds, remains intact.

The less-damaged area has been worked on before the fire to reduce the intensity and spread of wildfire: thinning timber, cutting underbrush and the lower limbs of trees, and removing woody debris from the forest floor. It is designed to keep fire on the ground, away from the upper reaches of the tree canopy where it can spread rapidly.

Read the full story here.

—Gordon Hoekstra and Glenda Luymes

Fire & Flood, Facing Two Extremes: B.C. First Nations fight for a seat at the planning table

On provincial maps, B.C.’s flood defences appear solid and uniform. Bold red lines delineate the dikes that neatly separate the Fraser River from its floodplain and keep the river flowing in its channel during high water.

For the most part, the lines trace the riverbank. But in a few places they falter or swoop inland, leaving pockets of land unprotected.

One of those places is Shxwhá:y Village, which lies in a marshy area outside the dikes in Chilliwack, adjacent to the river. Several Katzie First Nation communities in Langley and Pitt Meadows are also between the river and dikes, as well as parts of Kwantlen First Nation.

“It is a great insult,” said Shxwhá:y Chief Robert Gladstone. “I won’t say there isn’t still anger about it.”

The chief’s home is on the reserve’s highest point. During the 1948 Fraser River flood, it would have been under two metres of water.

But Gladstone is committed to building bridges — or, in this case, dikes. In 2019, Shxwhá:y Village, working with the Skwah First Nation and City of Chilliwack, secured $45 million from the federal government for a $60-million project to build a new six-kilometre dike along the Fraser River, as well as a flood gate and pump station.

Read the full story here.

—Glenda Luymes and Gordon Hoekstra

Northern premiers call for more federal funding in fight against climate change

Canada’s territorial premiers are calling on the federal government to increase funding for clean energy projects and to adapt to climate change.

Yukon Premier Sandy Silver, Nunavut Premier P.J. Akeeagok and Northwest Territories Premier Caroline Cochrane met in Whitehorse this week for their annual Northern Premiers’ Forum.

They said in a joint statement that Canada’s territories are warming up three to four times faster than the global average and it is already affecting communities.

As an example, during a news conference Monday following their meeting, Cochrane said communities along the Hay River in the Northwest Territories had been placed on evacuation alert or order due to flooding. She said 250 families had been evacuated so far.

Read the full story here.

—The Canadian Press

Largest U.S. wildfire threatens New Mexico town, ski resort

Strong winds drove the largest U.S. wildfire toward a New Mexico ski resort and the 1,000-year-old community of Taos on Wednesday.

As people evacuated, flames raced through parched forests and firefighters tried to protect homes from a blaze that has burned a 45-mile long path up the Sangre de Cristo mountains in just over a month.

Families in Taos Canyon and the Angel Fire ski resort crammed belongings into cars and trailers after they were told to be ready to go.

“There is a possibility with the models that we’re running, that those areas are going to see fire,” Todd Abel, a battalion chief with the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, told a briefing.

In immediate danger was the village of Chacon where villagers stayed to defend homes that have been in their families since Spanish-Mexican land grants of the 1820s when the area was not yet part of the United States.

“There is a lot of fire heading that way, so I highly recommend people evacuate,” Abel said.

Northern New Mexico is caught in its worst drought in at least 500 years. Climate change has reduced snowpacks and dried out high-mountain forests and valleys, according to scientists.

Read the full story here.

—Reuters


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GUIDES AND LINKS

B.C. Flood: Read all our coverage on the Fraser Valley and beyond

Frequently asked questions about climate change: NASA

Climate change made B.C. heat wave 150 times more likely, study concludes

B.C.’s heat wave: Intense weather event is linked to climate crisis, say scientists

Expert: climate change expected to bring longer wildfire seasons and more area burned

Vancouver outlines its Climate Emergency Action Plan

COVID-19 may have halted massive protests, but youth are taking their fight for the future to the courts

Climate displacement a growing concern in B.C. as extreme weather forces residents out of their homes

Do you have a story idea about local efforts being made to address the climate and ecological emergencies? Please email tips to ticrawford@postmedia.com


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