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

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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.