decision

Sierra Club of British Columbia Foundation v. Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy - decision

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Litigation

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In this case, the petitioner, Sierra Club of BC, is challenging the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy’s (government of British Columbia) 2021 Climate Change Accountability Report (the “2021 Report”) on the grounds that it did not meet the requirements under the Climate Change Accountability Act. The Act requires the government of British Columbia to publish annual reports on, among other things, its plan to continue progress toward reaching its climate targets set out in the Act. 

Sierra Club of BC argued that the Minister’s 2021 Report does not meet the requirements of the Climate Change Accountability Act as it does not include a plan to continue progress toward the 2025, 2040 and 2050 greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets referred to in the Act. Moreover, the petition alleges that the 2021 Report failed to include a plan to continue progress toward the greenhouse gas emissions reduction target set for the oil and gas sector. Sierra Club of BC asked the British Columbia Supreme Court to quash and set aside the 2021 Report because of an error of law, as it allegedly does not meet the requirements under the Climate Change Accountability Act, and remit the 2021 Report to the Minister for reconsideration.

In its response to the petition, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy argued that the 2021 Report met the requirements set out under the Climate Change Accountability Act as it contains plans to continue progress toward the emissions reduction targets set out in that Act. The Minister alleges that the substance of Sierra Club of BC’s petition is not that the 2021 Report is devoid of plans, but that Sierra Club of BC is not satisfied with the content, detail and/or sufficiency of the plans set out in the 2021 Report. As such, the Minister submits that the petitioner’s challenge to the adequacy of the 2021 Report is not a justiciable issue. Therefore, Sierra Club of BC does not have standing. The Minister also submits that the Court should deny the relief sought by Sierra Club of BC without a full hearing on the merits for unreasonable delay, given that the petition was brought more than 5 months after the 2021 Report was issued.

On January 17, 2023, Justice Basran of the British Columbia Supreme Court dismissed the Sierra Club of BC’s petition. The Court first held that Sierra Club of BC’s challenge was justiciable and reviewed the Minister’s compliance for reasonableness. It found the Climate Change Accountability Act requires the Minister to report plans toward all targets but mandates detailed emissions estimates only for the current year and the next two years, not for each target year. The Court, however, accepted that the CleanBC plan, the CleanBC Roadmap to 2030, supporting materials, and modelling together constituted reasonable compliance, including for the 2025 and oil and gas sector targets. While the materials showed BC was not on track to meet all targets, the Court held that the statute does not require the Minister to provide the detailed quantitative analysis Sierra Club of BC sought for 2040 and 2050. The Court also noted that the Climate Change Accountability Act does not impose a legal obligation to achieve the targets or penalties for missing them. The Court dismissed the Sierra Club of BC’s petition.

Sierra Club of British Columbia Foundation v. Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Terrestrial means "of the earth" and relates to the risks to ecological system that includes all living organisms and their interactions within land-based environments, such as forests, grasslands, and deserts.

A target to reduce the prevalence of a greenhouse gas over a specific time frame

Social and cultural groups that share collective ancestral ties to the lands and natural resources where they live, occupy or from which they have been displaced

Coal is a combustible sedimentary rock formed from carbonised plant matter, rich in carbon and hydrocarbons, and occurring in several main types including hard coal and brown coal.

People with different national or cultural traditions from the dominant population

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

A drought is an extended period of unusually dry weather marked by a significant and sustained lack of precipitation, falling below a specific threshold over a large area for more than a month

Hot temperature extremes are daily maximum temperatures  that were exceeded on average once in a decade or once in 50 years, and includes heatwaves.

A commitment to balance GHG emissions with removal by a certain point in time, effectively reducing the net emissions to zero

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

A potent, short-lived greehouse gas, largely released from livestock, fossil fuel extraction and waste management.

The release of heat-trapping gases, primarily from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and industry.

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

Sierra Club of British Columbia Foundation v. Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy - decision

Target

Risk

Impacted group

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Finance