HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

1 The title of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Act, S.B.C. 2007, c. 42, is repealed and the following substituted:

CLIMATE CHANGE ACCOUNTABILITY ACT .

2 Section 2 is amended

(a) in subsection (1) by repealing paragraph (a) and by adding the following paragraphs:

(a.1) by 2030 and for each subsequent calendar year, BC greenhouse gas emissions will be at least 40% less than the level of those emissions in 2007;

(a.2) by 2040 and for each subsequent calendar year, BC greenhouse gas emissions will be at least 60% less than the level of those emissions in 2007; , and

(b) by adding the following subsection:

(4) The minister may, by order, establish greenhouse gas emissions targets for individual sectors.

3 The following Part is added:

Part 1.1 – Preparing for Climate Change

Reports on climate change risks and progress

4.1  Beginning with a report for the 2020 calendar year, and continuing with a report for every subsequent even-numbered calendar year, the minister must prepare and make public, as soon as reasonably practicable for each year, a report respecting

(a) a determination of the risks to BC that could reasonably be expected to result from a changing climate,

(b) the progress that has been made toward reducing those risks,

(c) the actions that have been taken to achieve that progress, and

(d) the plans to continue that progress.

4 Section 12 (2) is amended

(a) by adding the following paragraph:

(b.1) prescribing categories of information that public sector organizations must provide to the minister for use in preparing the minister's public report under section 4.1, the timeframes in which that information must be provided and circumstances in which public sector organizations are exempt from providing that information; , and

(b) by repealing paragraphs (h) and (j) and substituting the following:

(h) providing exemptions from the obligations under section 6 [requirements for achieving carbon neutral status]; , and

(j) providing exemptions from the reporting obligations under section 8 [carbon neutral action reports] in relation to a calendar year.

 
Consequential Amendments

5 The Acts listed in Column 1 of the Schedule are amended in the provisions opposite them in Column 2 of the Schedule by striking out "Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Act" wherever it appears and substituting "Climate Change Accountability Act".

Commencement

6  The provisions of this Act referred to in column 1 of the following table come into force as set out in column 2 of the table:

 
Schedule

(Section 5)

"Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Act" to
"Climate Change Accountability Act"