B.C. climate news: B.C. cries foul after Ottawa signs another pipeline deal with Alberta | Worst start to wildfire season raises alarm as El Niño threatens

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Energy Minister Adrian Dix told reporters in Vancouver that the projects will combine to add 3,500 gigawatts of electricity to the power grid, which he said is enough to power 350,000 homes and boost B.C. Hydro’s capacity by five per cent.

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The government has launched two calls for power as it seeks to increase its power capacity by an additional 20 per cent amid growing demand, which has been exacerbated by persistent drought in certain regions of the province.

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Dix, however, said the four projects selected in this second call for power, combined with the 10 projects combining for 5,000 gigawatts of electricity in the previous call for power, are a solid step in the right direction.

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—Alec Lazenby

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India’s largest banks need to do more to incorporate climate risks into lending decisions as the country suffers escalating impacts from the effects of global warming, according to a new analysis.

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While 92 per cent of major lenders now disclose at least some climate-related data — up from 40 per cent in 2022 — there’s little evidence it is being used to inform policy or limit exposures, an assessment of 35 banks by Bengaluru-based think tank Climate Risk Horizons found.

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“The economic impacts of physical climate risks such as floods, heat, and drought are worsening,” said Sagar Asapur, the group’s head of sustainable finance and a co-author of the report. Those threats “cannot be treated as peripheral sustainability concerns. They affect borrower cash flows, collateral quality, and portfolio stability.”

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Less than half the banks examined had begun climate stress testing work, and none disclosed the results of the exercises, including potential impacts on asset quality or portfolio performance, according to the report published Wednesday.

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Costs of natural disasters exacerbated by climate change are mounting in India, with incidents triggering losses of US$1 billion or more now increasingly common, according to Swiss Re. Total losses in 2023 topped $12 billion, the Centre for Environment and Energy Development said in a report last year.

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—Bloomberg News

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China is reaping benefits as a global leader on the green transition and other nations should follow as the Iran war shows the vulnerability of a fossil fuel-based economy, according to the top United Nations climate official.

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“The further China goes, the faster the clean energy transition accelerates — the greater the benefit to your people and economy,” Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, said in the text of a speech to be delivered Thursday in Beijing. “Where China leads, others follow. ”

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Stiell’s comments at Tsinghua University — home to several of China’s leading climate institutes — coincided with President Donald Trump’s visit to the city for talks with China’s leader Xi Jinping, and highlighted the differing paths on green action between the world’s top two polluting nations.

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“It is in every country’s interest to seize this moment, for prosperity and for stability,” Stiell said. “That requires doubling-down on climate multilateralism.” Trump’s administration in January completed the withdrawal of the US for a second time from the Paris Agreement, the binding 2015 accord to combat global warming.

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—Bloomberg News

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Aerial view of an area ravaged by wildfires in Argentina on May 9, 2026. Photo by JUAN MABROMATA /AFP via Getty Images

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Record-breaking heat and drought have fuelled the world’s worst ever start to a wildfire year, as climate change and a developing El Niño threaten to push extreme weather to new heights.