British Columbia's Premier David Eby has suggested a potential second pipeline for the Vancouver area, a project he indicates could proceed without lifting the existing moratorium on oil tanker traffic. This development headlines a week of significant climate and environmental news for the period of December 1 to 7, 2025.
Policy Moves and Economic Pressures in B.C.
Premier Eby's comments on a new pipeline proposal introduce a complex layer to the province's energy and environmental policy. The key distinction is the premier's assertion that this project would not necessitate rescinding the controversial tanker moratorium, a longstanding measure aimed at protecting coastal waters.
Simultaneously, British Columbians are facing a stark economic warning related to climate and policy shifts. Food prices are projected to rise by as much as six per cent, driven by a combination of factors including international trade tensions, adjustments to the foreign worker program, and the escalating impacts of climate change on agriculture.
Global Climate Crisis and Response
The human cost of climate change was tragically evident in Asia this week, where catastrophic flooding has claimed nearly 1,000 lives. The scale of the disaster required military intervention to aid victims, underscoring the increasing role of armed forces in climate-induced humanitarian crises.
These events unfold against a backdrop of unequivocal scientific consensus. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which includes researchers from B.C., has long identified human activities—primarily burning fossil fuels and intensive livestock farming—as the principal drivers of climate change. These actions increase heat-trapping greenhouse gases, warming the planet's surface.
The panel has issued a "code red for humanity," warning that the window to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels is rapidly closing. NASA scientists corroborate this, stating human activity has raised atmospheric carbon dioxide by 50 per cent in under two centuries, confirming an unprecedented rate of planetary warming.
The Hard Numbers: A Planet Heating Up
Current data paints a clear picture of the accelerating crisis. As of November 13, 2025, carbon dioxide levels measured at Hawaii's Mauna Loa Observatory were 424.87 parts per million, a slight dip from 425.48 ppm the previous month but part of a steady climb from under 320 ppm in the 1960s.
The climate change quick facts are sobering:
- The Earth is now about 1.3 C warmer than in the 1800s.
- 2024 was the hottest year on record globally, surpassing 2023's record.
- The global average temperature in 2024 breached the critical 1.5 C threshold, reaching 1.55 C above pre-industrial averages.
- The past decade (2015-2024) ranks as the ten warmest on record.
- The world is not on track to meet the Paris Agreement's 1.5 C target, risking more severe sea-level rise, droughts, heatwaves, and wildfires.
- On the current emissions path, the IPCC warns temperatures could increase by as much as 3.6 C this century.
Scientists state that to stay below 1.5 C of warming, emissions must drop by 7.6 per cent annually from 2020 to 2030. The evidence leaves no doubt: the climate is warming, and human activity is the cause.
