Welcome to the Environmental Protection Division

Our mission is to protect and enhance the quality of British Columbia's water, land and air in a way that contributes to healthy communities, a sustainable environment, and a strong and vibrant provincial economy.

The Environmental Protection Division (EPD) of the Ministry of Environment works to protect human and environmental health. Its main goals are to:

improve air quality;
reduce greenhouse gas emissions;
redevelop a provincial plan for reducing and removing toxins and waste that contaminate the land, air and water — and for responding to high-risk environmental emergencies; and enhance environmental stewardship, shared with other stakeholders.

EPD will meet its goals through science-based policies, laws and environmental contracts / covenants. It will also use standards and codes of practice, carrying out monitoring to make sure standards are met, and publicly reporting on the monitoring results. These environmental protection measures will be co-ordinated with related ones in the ministry's other divisions.

EPD's headquarters are in Victoria, with most of its staff in regional offices. The division carries out its responsibilities through three branches: the Environmental Management Branch, Environmental Quality Branch and Regional Operations Branch.