Climate Change and Technical Safety BC

To build a safety system is resilient to the impacts of climate change and to make sure that we are doing our part to mitigate the climate crisis, Technical Safety BC is developing programs and strategies in alignment with the province's CleanBC plan and Climate Adaptation and Preparedness Strategy.

In addition to building an internal sustainability strategy to reduce Technical Safety BC’s own greenhouse gas emissions, Technical Safety BC’s climate action and sustainability work focuses on two main areas:

1. Building resiliency in the safety system through identifying and managing climate risks on technical equipment
2. Supporting efforts to reduce emissions in BC through facilitating the adoption of low-carbon technologies, in alignment with the Provincial Government’s Clean BC plan

To support these objectives, Technical Safety BC is currently undertaking research to:

• Identify the impacts of climate change (like floods, wildfires, heat waves, and water shortage) on technical equipment, with an aim to proactively manage safety risks and hazards through integrating risk reduction strategies into codes, standards, and assessments. Our current focus is to identify, assess, and prioritize climate change safety risks to technical equipment using safety system risk approach.
• Identify priority low-carbon technologies that are entering the market, and understanding any associated safety risks, with a goal of enabling the safe adoption of low-carbon technologies, in line with CleanBC, through changes to administrative processes, codes, and regulation. Our current focus is on technologies used in building electrification, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, hydrogen, and refrigeration.