Core Target 4: Environmental Quality

Where BC Ranks, Provincial Comparison

Core Target Four, environmental quality, is derived from BC's ranking under three environmental performance indicators (PI 14-PI 16): air quality, per capita greenhouse gas emissions, and protected areas. Environmental Quality rankings are based on the simple average of each province’s rank on these three indicators.

As it has since the BC Progress Board began reporting in 2001, BC ranked first in Canada on environmental quality. The 2009 overall rank is based on a first place rank on protected areas (2010), a third place rank on air quality (2009) and a fourth place rank on greenhouse gas emissions (2009).

The 'environment' is not easily summarized, especially in cross-jurisdictional comparisons, in any single indicator. For this reason, the Progress Board uses an index to measure environmental quality in its core measurement framework.

There are a number of additional measures without direct comparison in other jurisdictions that may enhance our understanding of BC's overall environmental performance. Some of these are discussed briefly in the Additional Environmental Measures Topic Box.