Article content

This week, hot weather records were broken in many B.C. communities. The scorching weather combined with drought have left wildfire officials and communities on edge.

Article content

Also, the World Meteorological Organization declared El Niño conditions have developed in the tropical Pacific. This concerns climate scientists because a strong El Niño could create what the WMO calls a “double whammy,” where a powerful event is combined with human-induced climate change from greenhouse gases causing record temperatures.

Article content

“If we persist in delaying key measures that are needed, I think we are moving into a catastrophic situation,” said UN secretary-general António Guterres, in response to the global temperature record.

Here’s all the latest news concerning the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and the steps leaders are taking to address these issues.

In climate news this week:

• The WMO declared that El Niño has started, raising concerns about more intense heat waves
• Wildfires cause evacuations, as dry lightning concerns fire officials
• Canada and the world set record hot temperatures this week

Article content

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned for more than a decade that wildfires, drought, severe weather, such as B.C.’s deadly heat dome and catastrophic flooding in 2021, would become more frequent and more intense because of the climate emergency.

The panel has issued a “code red” for humanity and last year it said the window to stop global warming from exceeding 1.5 C was closing. In April 2022, it released a report with solutions for how to drive down greenhouse gas emissions, mainly by transitioning away from fossil fuels.

There is a scientific consensus on climate change (NASA reports that 97 per cent of climate scientists agree that the climate is warming and that human activity is the cause.) Several studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals show that greenhouse gas emissions are the primary cause of global warming.

Article content

Article content

Check back here every Saturday for a roundup of the latest climate and environmental stories. You can also get up to date B.C.-focused news delivered to your inbox by 7 a.m. by subscribing to our newsletter here.

Climate change quick facts:

Article content

LATEST CLIMATE NEWS

El Niño has started. Here’s what that means for B.C.

El Niño conditions have developed in the tropical Pacific for the first time in seven years, according to the World Meteorological Organization, leading to a possible surge in global temperatures.

The WMO made the declaration Tuesday, several months after saying there was a high chance of the phenomenon developing this year.

The organization expects the event to be at least of moderate strength, but even a moderate El Niño could increase the likelihood of breaking temperature records and triggering more extreme heat in many parts of the world and in the ocean, according to WMO secretary-general Petteri Taalas.

“The declaration of an El Niño by WMO is the signal to governments around the world to mobilize preparations to limit the affects our health, our ecosystems and our economies,” he said in a statement. “Early warnings and anticipatory action of extreme weather events associated with this major climate phenomenon are vital to save lives and livelihoods.”

Armel Castellan, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said the El Niño is expected to affect B.C. in December and will likely mean a milder winter.

The concern is that a strong El Niño could create what the WMO calls a “double whammy,” where a powerful event is combined with human-induced climate change from greenhouse gases causing record temperatures.

Read the full story here.

—Tiffany Crawford

Spallumcheen orders evacuation for 18 properties as lightning triggers fire

The Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako in central B.C. has issued an evacuation order for all properties west of the Telkwa River, accessed off of Tatlow Road, including all local roads, as the Powers Creek wildfire rages nearby.

The out-of-control blaze covering 20 hectares was discovered Friday evening, and is believed to have been sparked by lightning.

Everyone in the area is being told to gather pets and critical items such as medication, wallet, keys and turn off all gas and electrical appliances before leaving immediately.

Evacuees should register at the reception centre at the Christian Reformed Church in Smithers.

Earlier Friday, the Township of Spallumcheen in the southern B.C. interior opened an emergency operations centre after ordering 18 properties evacuated due to an out-of-control wildfire.

The evacuations come amid a spike in wildfire activity associated with lightning and parched conditions across much of the province’s interior.

—The Canadian Press

Article content

Canada and the world set record hot temperatures this week

Canada set record hot temperatures for at least three days in a row this week, as a heat record was also set globally.

With the mercury spiking mostly in parts of B.C. and Quebec, Canada broke hot weather records on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with temperatures ranging from the high 20s C into the 30s, according to Carmen Hartt, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada.

“There was quite a big area of heat building over the western part of Canada, mostly B.C., and also over the east,” said Hartt on Friday.

Those records broke just as the average worldwide temperature reached 17.2 C — the hottest day on record — on Tuesday one day after hitting a record 17 C, according to the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine. The previous record of 16.9 C was set in August 2016.

These records were reached before the effects of the El Niño weather phenomenon, which the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) declared this week will likely push global temperatures higher into 2024.

Read the full story here.

—Tiffany Crawford

More hot and dry weather, lightning strikes concern B.C. wildfire officials

B.C. wildfire officials are worried as hot weather and lightning are expected to spark more fires in a province where a million hectares of land has already been scorched.

Forty-Five new wildfires broke out over the Canada Day long weekend, mostly by lightning, government officials said at a joint news conference Wednesday with the B.C. Wildfire Service. And there is more lightning in the forecast over the next few days, something that is deeply concerning because of the severe drought.

“Crossing over the million-hectare threshold this early in the season is quite significant,” said Cliff Chapman, director of wildfire operations with the B.C. Wildfire Service. “There has been a lot of anxiety in the north.”

This wildfire season is now the third worst for most hectares burned and there are still the hottest and driest months ahead, Chapman added. He urged everyone in the province to be “extremely cautious” for the rest of the summer.

Read the full story here.

—Tiffany Crawford

Most of B.C. under campfire ban as heat, lightning likely to ramp-up wildfire risk

More campfire bans are on the way in B.C., with a heat wave in many areas not expected to ease for days and a moderate to extreme wildfire risk covering all but the southeast corner of the province.

The B.C. Wildfire Service said the Cassiar and Bulkley fire zones within the Northwest Fire Centre prohibited campfires from noon Thursday, adding to the ban imposed in that centre’s Nadina fire zone last month.

Campfires will also be prohibited across the entire Cariboo Fire Centre at noon Friday.

That will leave the Southeast Fire Centre and one zone within the Northwest Fire Centre as the only B.C. areas where campfires will still be permitted.

—The Canadian Press

Article content

Air quality advisory issued for Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley

Metro Vancouver issued an air quality advisory on Thursday afternoon because of high concentrations of ground-level ozone.

Ozone concentrations became elevated due to hot, sunny conditions and wildfire smoke. The advisory covered the northeast and southeast of Metro Vancouver and central and eastern Fraser Valley.

During the advisory, the regional authority recommended avoiding strenuous activities, especially from mid-afternoon to early evening when ozone levels are highest.

Meantime, heat warnings were issued Thursday for the Fraser Canyon and the inland areas of B.C.’s Central Coast, with hot weather expected to last until Sunday.

Environment and Climate Change Canada said daytime temperatures could hit 35 C in areas such as Lytton, which hit a record 49.6 C during a heat dome in 2021 — one day before it was destroyed by wildfire.

—Joseph Ruttle and Tiffany Crawford

Boosted B.C. climate action tax credit on the way to eligible bank accounts this week

The first quarterly payments from the NDP government’s expanded climate action tax credit are on their way to eligible British Columbians this week.

As part of the 2023 budget, the Finance Ministry bumped-up the threshold for who could receive the tax credit, meaning more than two million people and families are now getting the credit. The payments are also significantly higher, with an individual getting more than double what they received last year.

A single person can get as much as $447 a year, up from $250 in 2022. A family-of-four can receive up to $893.50, up from $390 last year.

The threshold for eligibility is also higher: Any individual with a net income under $61,465 will get a full or partial credit. The income cap for a single parent with two kids is now $89,270.

—Joseph Ruttle

Doctors, environmentalists petition Ottawa to investigate trucking pollution

A group of doctors and environmental activists are petitioning the federal government to investigate pollution from the trucking industry.

In a news release this week, Canadian Physicians for the Environment and Friends of the Earth said they have called on Canada’s Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development to look into how Ottawa is preventing toxic emissions from heavy-duty trucks.

Traffic-related air pollution near roadways is known to cause serious health damage, including asthma, cardiovascular disease, reduced lung function, impaired lung development in children, preterm and low-birth weight infants, childhood leukemia, and premature death, according to the physicians.

They say large diesel trucks are the worst offenders of vehicle emissions pollution and that heavy trucks do not have to comply with updated federal vehicle emissions standards which only apply to truck model years 2007 and newer.

The groups say that clean air is a human right, and the government has a duty to implement the many solutions it has at hand to reduce truck-related pollution and clean up air quality in Canadian communities.

—Tiffany Crawford

Countries agree to slash shipping emissions but not enough to stay within warming limits

Maritime nations agreed Friday to slash emissions from the shipping industry to net zero by about 2050 in a deal that several experts and nations say falls short of what’s needed to curb warming to agreed temperature limits.

Countries at the meeting of the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization in London, seen as key to curb global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times, signed a deal for shipping emissions to reach net zero “by or around” 2050. The less firm deadline was agreed to take account of “different national circumstances.”

The plan also calls for shipping emissions to be slashed by at least 20% but aiming for 30% by 2030 and at least 70% but working toward 80% by 2040 despite a push from Pacific nations — backed by Canada, the United States and the U.K. — for more ambitious targets. Experts calculate the industry must cut its emissions by 45% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050 to keep on track with 1.5 C temperature goal.

Read the full story here.

—The Associated Press

Article content

Greta Thunberg charged with disobeying law enforcement during climate protest

Swedish prosecutors have charged climate activist Greta Thunberg with disobedience to law enforcement in connection with a protest in Malmo last month.

Local newspaper Sydsvenskan reported Wednesday that Thunberg was detained with other activists after they stopped traffic in the oil terminal of the port in Malmo on June 19.

A short statement by Swedish prosecutors on Wednesday said a “young woman” was charged with disobedience because she “refused to comply with police orders to leave the scene” during the protest.

The statement didn’t identify the woman, but Swedish Prosecution Authority spokeswoman Annika Collin confirmed that it was Thunberg.

Read the full story here.

—The Associated Press

Shell boss under fire for saying cutting fossil fuel production is ‘dangerous:’ report

The Guardian this week reported that climate activists are taking aim at Shell boss Wael Sawan, who claimed in a BBC interview that cutting the world’s oil and gas production would be dangerous and irresponsible.

Sawan claimed reducing fossil fuel production — essential to reducing emissions and limiting global warming — could worsen the cost of living crisis and that poorer countries would bear the brunt of a gas shortfall.

Jamie Peters, the head of climate at Friends of the Earth, told the Guardian it was “utterly ironic for Shell to be calling anything ‘dangerous and irresponsible’”.

“Let’s be clear, companies like Shell are fuelling both the climate crisis and the soaring cost of energy. They are profiting from the misery of ordinary people while destroying the planet, and they’re making a cynical case to continue locking us into the volatile fossil fuel markets that are the root cause of the energy crisis,” Peters told the Guardian.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Article content

A glance at carbon numbers: