Greenhouse gas emissions

A future powered by water

Our electricity is generated from 98% clean, renewable resources. This gives us a unique advantage and an important role in helping British Columbians switch from fossil fuels to clean electricity to help reduce the province's greenhouse gas emissions. Our Electrification Plan outlines how we plan to support this shift in various sectors in the province including industry, transportation, and residential home heating.

Our plan to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions

In addition to helping reduce the province's overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, we also have a responsibility to ensure we're taking action to reduce emissions from our electricity system and in how we operate.

We're working to reduce our 2007 baseline GHG emissions by 52% by 2025, and by 71% by 2030, in alignment with the Government of B.C.'s targets for GHG emissions reduction for industry, our company-wide strategy, and our Electrification Plan.

Here's a closer look at how we plan to get there:

Our system

• We'll reduce our reliance on thermal generation in our operations and with our independent power producers.
• We'll work with communities and First Nations to explore opportunities to reduce the reliance on diesel generation in areas that are not connected to our integrated grid.
• We'll minimize the amount of new Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6) – a greenhouse gas commonly used in electrical equipment – added to the system and repair or replace leaking equipment across our system.

Our buildings

• We'll install low-carbon heating systems in our new facilities and explore options for electrifying our existing buildings where it makes financial and technical sense.

Our vehicles

• With 93% of our light-duty sedans already zero-emission or hybrid-electric vehicles, we will continue to invest in electric or electric hybrid vehicles for the rest of our fleet when these options are available.
• We're installing telematics across our fleet to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
• We'll pilot hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in partnership with Powertech Labs.
• We'll continue to add to our EV charging infrastructure to ensure we can support a growing fleet of electric vehicles.

Reporting on how we're doing

Our 2023 Climate Change Accountability Report  [PDF, 8.6 MB] outlines our emissions profile, the total offsets to reach net-zero emissions for buildings, fleet, and paper, the actions we took in 2023 to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, and our plans going forward.

Our past reports

• 2022 Climate Change Accountability Report  [PDF, 7.7 MB]
• 2021 Climate Change Accountability Report  [PDF, 2.1 MB]
• 2020 Climate Change Accountability Report  [PDF, 3.3 MB]

Maintaining a resilient system in a changing climate

The impacts of climate change have implications for our operations. Changes in temperature can influence customer demand while precipitation patterns could alter the timing and volume of spring run-off. The increase in the severity and frequency of storms will increase the risk of damage to our system.

Through a partnership with the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium, we're continuing to evolve our assessment and understanding of the risks of climate change, while also maintaining robust adaptation practices that we’ll continue to progress as we learn more.

See our report Climate change: How BC Hydro is adapting [PDF, 2.8 MB].