B.C. wins climate award at Glasgow conference

By Province of British Columbia

An innovative CleanBC program designed to reduce industry emissions and maintain global competitiveness has won an international award presented by the Under2 Coalition during COP26 in Glasgow.

The CleanBC Program for Industry was awarded most creative climate solution from the coalition, which is a global alliance of state and regional governments committed to ambitious climate action in line with the Paris agreement.

“We are expanding and accelerating climate action as we work across sectors to reduce climate-harming pollution and create new opportunities for people and businesses in the clean economy,” said George Heyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. “It’s an honour to receive the award recognizing the success of this program is about strong collaboration supporting innovation. The award is another indication that we are on the right path through the new CleanBC Roadmap to 2030.”

The CleanBC Program for Industry includes two complementary initiatives that work together to encourage investment in clean technologies and operations that reduce emissions from industry.

The first – called the CleanBC Industry Fund – uses a portion of carbon tax revenue paid by large emitters to co-invest in projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in sectors such as mining, pulp and paper, cement, agriculture, and oil and gas. The second – called the CleanBC Industrial Incentive Program – reduces carbon tax costs for operators if they can demonstrate they are among the lowest emitting in the world for their sector.

The CleanBC award was presented at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow at the Under2 Coalition Awards as part of the group’s general assembly.

Quick Facts:

• The CleanBC Industry Fund is investing $43 million in 32 projects across the province to reduce greenhouse gas pollution, with additional contributions coming from industry and partners. In total, the projects are expected to reduce approximately 1.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent to 2030.
• To be eligible, applicants must have paid carbon tax and have emissions over 10,000 tonnes of CO2e per year under the Greenhouse Gas Industrial Reporting and Control Act.
• British Columbia has sectoral greenhouse gas emissions targets for industry (38-43% below 2007 levels by 2030) and oil and gas (33-38% below 2007 levels by 2030).

Learn More:

To learn more about the CleanBC Program for industry, visit: www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/climate-change/industry  

To learn more about CleanBC Industry Fund, visit: www.cleanbc.gov.bc.ca/industryfund

To read the CleanBC Roadmap to 2030 visit: www.cleanbc.gov.bc.