B.C. environmental group's ad campaign during World Cup puts spotlight on old-growth logging

An ad from Sierra Club B.C. is projected on a building in downtown Vancouver during the World Cup. The ad campaign puts a spotlight on old-growth logging. Photo by Sierra Club B.C. handout.

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If you were downtown in Vancouver on Thursday celebrating Canada’s big win at the World Cup you may have noticed several large billboards alerting visitors to one of B.C.’s controversial forest practices.

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Environmental group Sierra Club B.C. launched ads this month to coincide with the Cup in Vancouver to put the spotlight on logging of B.C.’s old-growth forest.

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The ads, which are online, on buildings, streaming in bars and restaurants, on TV and on billboards downtown and at SkyTrain stations, say an average of 100 soccer fields of old-growth forest in B.C. are still being clear-cut every day. This figure is from a 2025 report by the same group on the state of B.C.’s forests called Closer to the Brink.

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“The World Cup reminds us of our unique place in the world when it comes to our forests — they are globally rare and disappearing under our watch. British Columbia is home to some of the last endangered old-growth forests on Earth,” said Shelley Luce, campaign director at Sierra Club B.C., in a statement. “As the world turns its attention to Vancouver, the B.C. government has an opportunity to lead the world by taking real steps to protect these precious ecosystems for future generations.”

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Visitors look at an ad launched by the Sierra Club to coincide with the World Cup in Vancouver. The ads call attention to B.C. logging old-growth forest. Photo by Sierra Club B.C.

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B.C.’s Forest Ministry said in an emailed statement that there are 111,000 square kilometres of old forests and, of that, 89,000 are either protected, deferred or uneconomic to harvest, or 80 per cent of old-growth forest.

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The Sierra Club says that despite promises to protect old-growth forests, the provincial government continues to allow clear-cutting. But the ministry argues that this practice is declining. The ministry says harvesting estimates show that logging old-growth forest has declined by about 69 per cent since 2015.

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Old-growth forests are defined by the province as being older than 250 years in coastal and Interior wet-belt ecosystems and more than 140 years old in Interior dry ecosystems.

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Last year, conservation groups and First Nations called on the government to act on a five-year-old promise to overhaul the logging industry to protect old-growth forests.

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