Locked In and Losing Out: British Columbia’s fossil fuel subsidies

The report highlights that British Columbia provides hundreds of millions of dollars in fossil fuel subsidies, which contradicts its CleanBC policy and carbon pricing efforts. It specifically identifies the LNG sector and royalty credits as major areas of concern and recommends a comprehensive phase-out plan and increased data transparency.

• British Columbia provided at least CAD 830 million in total fossil fuel subsidies in 2017–18, with the majority of these funds directed toward fossil fuel producers through direct investments, royalty reductions, and provincial tax exemptions.
• The province faces a significant loss of potential public revenue due to outstanding royalty credits from fossil fuel producers, totaling at least CAD 2.6 billion. In the 2018-19 period alone, deep well credits claimed by producers exceeded CAD 631 million.
• Recent policy moves, such as the BC-LNG Canada Agreement, are creating new subsidies for the liquefied natural gas industry, which the authors argue will lock in high-carbon infrastructure for several decades.
• To address these issues, the authors recommend that British Columbia publicly release all spending data on fossil fuel subsidies, conduct a self-review with an independent expert panel, implement a phase-out action plan, and coordinate with the federal government's G20 peer review.

APA

Corkal, V., & Gass, P. (2019). Locked In and Losing Out: British Columbia’s fossil fuel subsidies. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/locked-in-losing-out-summary.pdf

Chicago

Corkal, Vanessa, and Philip Gass. Locked In and Losing Out: British Columbia’s fossil fuel subsidies. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2019. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/locked-in-losing-out-summary.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Corkal |first1=Vanessa |last2=Gass |first2=Philip |title=Locked In and Losing Out: British Columbia’s fossil fuel subsidies |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=November 2019 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/locked-in-losing-out-summary.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{corkal2019locked, author = {Corkal, Vanessa and Gass, Philip}, title = {{Locked In and Losing Out: British Columbia’s fossil fuel subsidies}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2019}, month = nov, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/locked-in-losing-out-summary.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }