Despite claims about ‘securing B.C.’s future’, provincial budget passes the buck on protecting biodiversity and fighting climate change

VICTORIA/UNCEDED lək̓ʷəŋən TERRITORIES — Wilderness Committee is criticizing Budget 2026 as a failure for the provincial government in terms of its responsibilities to fight climate change and protect the nature and biodiversity that make B.C. so special.

A budget characterized by spending cuts or freezes across the board continues the trend of underfunding the ministries responsible for B.C.’s commitments to lower emissions and protect the environment.

“Despite identifying climate disasters as a major threat to the province, the BC NDP continues to invest in the fossil fuel industries that drive climate change in the first place,” said Associate Director Torrance Coste.

“The government knows that the costs of runaway resource extraction outweigh its benefits, but they lack the courage to stand up to oil and gas corporations and turn the province towards a more sustainable future.”

Increases but not really

Amidst weak global markets for LNG, Budget 2026 continues to tie projected revenue increases to increased volume in fracked gas production, an activity incompatible with B.C.’s climate goals.

Budget documents state the government is investing $40 million dollars over three years to increase permitting capacity as part of the Look West economic strategy that leans heavily on fossil fuel projects and mining, but these funds appear to come from existing budgets of the ministries responsible for protecting nature and building a more sustainable province. These ministries see either minimal budget increases or cuts over the three-year fiscal plan. Between 2025 and 2028, the Ministry of Environment and Parks sees an $11 million reduction; the Ministry of Transportation and Transit sees a $21 million increase; the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation sees an increase of just $1 million; the Ministry of Water, Lands and Natural Resource Stewardship sees an increase of just $2 million; and the Ministry of Energy and Climate Solutions sees an increase of just $1 million.

In comparison to the three-year projections in last year’s budget, the Ministry of Environment and Parks, Ministry of Water, Lands and Resource Stewardship and Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness all see reductions of between $10-20 million. “The provincial government is talking about ramping up resource extraction and fast-tracking megaprojects while simultaneously cutting or freezing the budgets of the ministries that are supposed to regulate these industries,” Coste said. “The BC NDP’s push for more oil, gas and mining is coming at the expense of environmental protection, and that’s a dangerous approach that only locks in uncertainty and conflict for years to come.”

Underestimating climate costs

Three-year funding for the Ministry of Forests and the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness continue to hugely underestimate the costs of wildfires and other climate disasters. For example, the budget allocates between $108 and $111 million to the emergency management ministry over the next three years, despite the fact that ministry usually spends far above that — this year alone projected spending is over $440 million. The forest ministry continues to see budget allocations of less than 1 billion dollars, even though wildfire costs regularly push its spending above that, often by hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Wilderness Committee is disappointed to see minimal investment in public transit, with BC Transit only seeing additional funding to keep up with inflation.  

Investments in the wrong direction

Rather than bold investments in conservation of old-growth forests and other rare ecosystems or climate solutions like expanding public transit or local food security initiatives, Budget 2026 features a $400 million Strategic Investments Special Account to attract further investment in sectors like logging, mining and AI.

“The economic turmoil B.C. is seeing right now mirrors the chaos industrial activity is causing for ecosystems and the climate,” said Coste, “The BC NDP government has the opportunity to reinvest resources in transforming the province to meet all of these challenges together, but instead it’s clinging to a 100 year-old model of resource extraction and largely ignoring the environmental consequences.”

The Wilderness Committee will continue to work with communities, First Nations, grassroots activists and others to advocate for laws and funding to reflect B.C.’s biodiversity and climate crises.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Torrance Coste | Associate Director

torrance@wildernesscommittee.org