Clean energy hit a major milestone in 2024, accounting for more than 40 percent of global electricity generation, driven largely by rapid growth in solar and wind power. Yet even as the world moves decisively toward renewables, the Canadian government continues to back new fossil fuel development—projects that raise questions about a lack of long-term vision.
On November 13, 2025, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a raft of so-called projects of national interest, most of which promote a fossil fuel agenda. One of the approved projects, Ksi Lisims LNG, is facing criticism on a number of fronts, including its potential threat to the British Columbia coastal ecosystem and its heavy investment in fossil fuels—an approach that could lock in emissions at a time when the entire planet needs to change course, and fast.
The approved project would establish a floating net-zero liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility—designed to convert natural gas into liquid—on Canada’s northwest coast. The project would be co-developed by US-based energy developer Western LNG, the Nisg̱a’a Nation, and a consortium of Canadian gas producers. Operations are planned to commence by 2028 and could facilitate the transportation of 12 million metric tons of gas stored on a floating platform and loaded onto tanks to ship overseas. According to the NGO Dogwood Initiative, the Ksi Lisims and Prince Rubert Gas Transmission pipelines are also funded by US investment.
“Ksi Lisims is 100 percent American owned,” said Christina Smethurst of the Dogwood Initiative, who questions how a project can be in the national interest while also being an American project. He noted that stakeholders in the project include Wall Street billionaires such as Stephen Schwarzman, a Donald Trump donor and an adviser in his first administration.
The project has the support of the Nisga’a Nation, one of the proponents of Ksi Lisims, in whose territory it will be located. The First Nation sees it as an economic opportunity that could benefit their community and beyond. Eva Clayton, president of the Nisg̱a’a Lisims Government, described it as a transformative project that would meet high environmental standards. “The Ksi Lisims LNG and PRGT projects are the next step on our journey,” said Clayton in a statement. “We’re showing BC, Canada, and the world what Indigenous economic independence and shared prosperity can look like.”
However, the majority of First Nations in British Columbia who were consulted as part of the provincial environmental assessment process are opposed, two of which have launched lawsuits or filed for judicial review in federal court. Of the 10 Indigenous nations participating in the provincial environmental assessment, only two—Gitga’at First Nation and Kitselas First Nation—formally consented to the Ksi Lisims LNG project. The Metlakatla First Nation and Lax Kw’alaams Band cited unresolved concerns ranging from marine impacts to greenhouse gas emissions. The Gitanyow Nation cited threats to salmon in the Nass watershed, severe climate impacts, inadequate consultation, and the absence of Indigenous consent.
Smethurst agrees, explaining that an increase in tanker traffic along the coast is a major concern, as is the project’s floating LNG infrastructure and its impact on marine ecosystems in the Nass River estuary and surrounding coastal waters.
“The primary impacts would be increased tanker traffic in a remote part of the coast, the noise above and below the surface and fuel/chemical spills,” she explained. “A massive amount of wild salmon depend on the Nass, so this project puts them at great risk.”
The Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs sent a letter to 43 banks and pension funds, asking them to respect Gitanyow rights and not finance or invest in the project. “This LNG project brings to our Lax’yip salmon habitat destruction and concerns that its impact will be the death knell for at-risk Chinook salmon, which has been declining for more than a decade,” said Gitanyow Hereditary Chief Deborah Good. “We’ve had to go to court to fight for our way of life and especially the continuing health of our salmon stocks. Our lands and rights to salmon are unceded, and this means consent and consultation are required.”
According to the Gitanyow Nation, under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples—to which Canada is a signatory—projects such as Ksi Lisims cannot proceed without the free, prior, and informed consent of affected Indigenous communities. The BC government itself has acknowledged these gaps, signaling that more legal and regulatory battles lie ahead.
This comes on the heels of COP30 in Brazil, where the rights and inclusion of Indigenous peoples were rightly front and center throughout the negotiations.
Ironically, on the same day, November 13, Ksi Lisims was declared in the national interest, the federal government in Ottowa issued a statement in support of the COP30 climate talks, which took place at that time in Brazil.
“The Government of Canada is taking meaningful action to implement the Paris Agreement by working in partnership with Indigenous peoples and other key partners to advance concrete outcomes,” said Julie Dabrusin, minister of environment and climate change, in a statement. “We are all determined to create a clean, affordable, net‑zero future where people and communities thrive. Working closely with local and international climate leaders at COP30 is an important opportunity toward achieving inclusive and innovative solutions.”
The Canadian government has indicated it might directly subsidize Ksi Lisims, which, according to Tara Marsden/Naxginkw, the Gitanyow sustainability director, is another example of its misdirection.
“LNG projects are environmentally and financially risky choices,” she said. “Without the substantial government subsidies they receive, they likely wouldn’t be viable. Those subsidies would be better spent supporting a sustainable economy grounded in renewable energy and responsible resource development, like we practice on our territory. Gitanyow won’t stop its fight against LNG projects like Ksi Lisims.”
The Ksi Lisims LNG project plans to eventually run on clean hydroelectric power, but it has been approved to start operations before that electricity is available. In the meantime, natural-gas–powered barges will provide power, which will significantly increase greenhouse gas emissions. Natural gas, mostly methane, is mainly extracted in BC through fracking. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes about 30 percent of the recent rise in global temperatures.
How can the project be considered net zero when the majority of its emissions occur downstream when the gas is burned in importing countries? “It can’t,” said Smethurst. “The BC government uses tricky math to make fracked gas/LNG appear cleaner than other fossil fuels.”
Smethurst says the federal and BC governments are taking a huge risk, one that could ultimately destroy salmon habitat and ignore climate targets.
“Other countries are moving forward faster on renewable energy,” she said. “The fastest expanding energy sectors are solar and wind power. But both BC and Canadian governments lack vision. They’re gambling on short-term gains by locking us into a tired industry with a value controlled by global forces, and they’re using taxpayer money to do it.”