B.C.'s new clean-energy czar is a climate 'wild card'

Adrian Dix is B.C.’s new climate and clean energy czar, but it’s not clear whether his appointment signals a new commitment by the NDP government to tackle the province’s growing oil and gas emissions.

Dix, the former health minister who once ran for premier himself, was appointed as the Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions during Premier David Eby’s cabinet shuffle. 

With the appointment, Eby also combined responsibility for energy and climate accountability under one roof.

Dix’s appointment and changes to the ministry could be pivotal to B.C.’s clean energy future and low carbon economy, if the province weans itself off fossil fuels and prioritizes clean electricity for economic sectors aligned with climate priorities, say political and climate experts. 

However, unless the Eby government changes course, Dix faces a difficult conundrum: he’ll remain tasked with growing B.C.’s LNG and fossil fuel sector — which generates a quarter of the province’s greenhouse gas emissions — yet will still need to meet provincial climate targets to drop emissions by 40 per cent by 2030 and 80 per cent by 2050. 

Carbon and climate crossroads

Integrating the energy and climate portfolios under one roof makes good sense, said Stewart Prest, a political scientist at the University of British Columbia. 

Dix will have the power to influence both sides of the energy equation — though there’s an inherent tension with the province’s “Goldilocks” assertion it can balance fossil fuels ambitions and climate targets, he said. 

“This reorganization brings cause and effect closer together,” Prest said. 

“The person responsible for making decisions will have the means and the ends unified under one decision making structure.” 

Dix is a good fit for the job and signals the province is taking the clean energy post seriously, Prest said. 

“He’s somebody with the clout, expertise and the ability to handle difficult files,” he said. 

It’s a return to the energy file for Dix, who as NDP critic denounced the BC Liberal government’s Site C dam project. Once he became leader of the opposition, Dix was skeptical the BC Liberals’ LNG plans would generate the promised revenue and raised concerns about emissions and water use but never outright opposed them.

Any NDP reservations about either Site C or LNG dissipated after former premier John Horgan led the party to victory in 2017. 

Dix still hasn’t been given any specific mandate or new edicts from Eby’s office, Prest said. His appointment letter simply states, “The transition to a low-carbon future represents a generational opportunity we must seize, not abandon,” but does not include specific actions or programs the government will be pursuing.

“At this point, we have little to do but speculate on the direction of the government,” he said. 

The Energy Ministry did not respond to Canada’s National Observer’s repeated questions or requests for an interview or comment from Minister Dix. 

Fossil fuels contradiction

The province’s annual emissions are heading in the wrong direction — upwards from the baseline year, with the exception of two years during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In 2022, (the latest figures available), emissions rose to 64.3 million tonnes (64.3 Mt) — which approaches the 20-year peak of 66.2 Mt in 2018. 

In an important bid to reach B.C. 's climate targets, Dix will oversee the implementation of B.C. Hydro’s ambitious $36 billion, 10-year electrification plan. 

The initiative includes $4.7 billion dedicated to new transmission lines between Prince George and Terrace. The build-out in the region is aimed at meeting rising electrical demand for critical mineral mining projects. However, the province is also looking to clean up natural gas production in the northeast and and the anticipated surge in emissions as the LNG export projects on the coast begin to come online in 2025. 

Anjali Appadurai, campaigns director at the Climate Emergency Unit, welcomed the changes to the energy ministry to streamline decisions and underscore the importance of energy policy. 

But the changes also highlight the paradox between the province’s stated climate policy and continued cheerleading for the LNG export industry, a sector that will make it near impossible to meet emissions targets, said Appadurai, who ran in the BC NDP leadership race in 2022. 

If all six of the LNG projects currently on B.C.’s books get approved and are up and running by 2030, under the status quo, the emissions could reach 30 Mt annually — more than triple the province’s fossil fuel sector emissions target. 

The province has also delayed rolling out a fossil fuel emissions cap, slated for 2024, until after the federal election. Eby also reversed course and promised during the last election to ditch B.C.’s long-established consumer carbon tax if Ottawa does — which inched closer this week with the recent implosion of the federal Liberals and the increasing likelihood Conservative Leader Pierre Pollievre will win power. 

There’s a clear need for Dix to bring new leadership to the clean energy file and the future of LNG, said Appadurai, who described the minister as a “wild card.” 

“We don’t know where Adrian Dix stands on climate,” she said. 

“He hasn’t given us lots of signals about the really ambitious leadership required to get us out of this climate contradiction.” 

Heeding the common call by policy experts, environmental groups and many First Nations and municipal governments to refuse approvals to any new LNG projects would be a good first step, Appadurai said. 

Two projects, LNG Canada phase 1 and the Woodfibre production plant in Squamish, are under construction and set to come online in 2025 and 2027 respectively. 

Cedar LNG, the first Indigenous majority-owned project, has gotten the province’s go-ahead and will begin construction in earnest. Tilbury LNG, LNG Canada phase 2 and the Ksi Lisims project, also First Nations owned, are still navigating the regulatory process. 

All the projects are counting on the province and BC Hydro, a public utility company, to provide them with clean electricity so they clean up their act and stop burning gas to operate, Appadurai said. 

If the province doesn’t ensure that LNG projects and fossil gas producers cover the full costs of meeting their voracious energy demands it will result in higher electricity rates for other users and residents, she said. 

“We can't have public tax dollars funding an industry when the people of BC don't see the benefits,” Appadurai said. 

Economic benefits of a clean energy economy

Rather than locking the provincial grid into subsidizing a sunset industry for the next forty years, B.C. could get a jump start on the inevitable transition to a low carbon economy by backing industries and renewable energy projects that generate clean energy jobs, said Thomas Green, senior climate policy advisor at the David Suzuki Foundation. 

Global demand for LNG is set to decline, and gas can be obtained more cheaply from other global suppliers, creating the risk of stranded assets for B.C.’s projects and obsolete infrastructure for governments that support them, Green said. 

Green hopes Dix, who tends to take a data driven approach to files, will curb the fossil fuel industry’s future monopolization of electric resources and prioritize the renewable energy sector, grid modernization and the electrification of buildings and transportation.

The province’s recent unveiling of nine new wind projects involving First Nations partners is a good example of how clean energy projects can drive affordable electricity as well as economic and community development while meeting climate commitments, Green said. 

However, there’s the risk the province is plugging renewable energy into the grid just to greenwash LNG, he said, noting more transparency and a detailed clean energy plan from the ministry is needed.

“It makes no sense for us to generate all sorts of electricity so we can export more fossil fuels that are burned elsewhere on the planet and cause more global warming and extreme weather that comes back to whack us in B.C.,” he said.