In a letter to the Globe and Mail, Pembina Institute managing director Karen Tam Wu says the BC natural gas sector has a methane leak problem and the gas sector needs to do more to cut carbon pollution and protect the climate. Canadian Press photo.
Natural gas biggest source of industrial emissions in British Columbia
By Karen Tam Wu
The B.C. government has, on one hand, given the liquefied natural gas industry big tax breaks and, on the other, reaffirmed its commitment to meeting our climate goals (LNG Canada In B.C. To Hire Mainly Canadian Workers For $40-Billion Project Construction, July 15).
But how this fossil-fuel industry might fit within B.C.’s carbon budget remains hazy.
The province’s natural gas framework suggests LNG’s carbon pollution can be offset by the “aggressive electrification” of transportation, heating of homes and buildings, and upstream gas production. Until we have both a climate strategy laying out sector-specific carbon reduction pathways and a province-wide electrification strategy, we have no idea whether the numbers will add up.
Furthermore, while the gas sector claims its product is “clean,” it has a methane leak problem. Meanwhile, gas is already B.C.’s biggest source of industrial emissions. The gas sector needs to do its fair share in reducing carbon pollution and protecting our climate.
Karen Tam Wu, B.C. managing director, Pembina Institute
Vancouver
The Globe and Mail published this letter to the editor on July 23, 2018 (page A10).
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