Opening Statement of Jerry V. DeMarco Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development Office of the Auditor General of Canada Before the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources

Good morning, Madam Chair. I want to begin by acknowledging that we are on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe people. I am pleased to share our office’s observations on past federal sustainable development strategies, as reflected in our 2025 report on lessons learned from Canada’s record on sustainable development. I am also here to discuss our performance audit reports on supporting species-at-risk assessment and reassessment and on implementing the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act. I am joined by Francis Michaud, Stacey O’Malley, and Elsa Da Costa, who were directors on these reports.

Last spring’s lessons learned report highlighted 6 lessons derived from the federal government’s sustainable development efforts to date. As Canada lags behind most G7 countries in meeting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, several of these lessons are relevant to today’s discussion.

We are reviewing the new draft Federal Sustainable Development Strategy in light of our lessons learned report, and we will share our comments to the Minister of the Environment, Climate Change and Nature with this committee at the same time. Since 2008, our office has reviewed and commented on 5 draft versions of the strategy. We have urged the federal government to better align frameworks related to sustainable development, which contain different goals, targets, and actions. This ties into Lesson 2 in our lessons learned report, which is that an integrated approach to planning is critical to unify policy direction and strengthen implementation across lead federal departments. We have also emphasized the importance of setting measurable, results-oriented targets in the strategy to support progress reporting and accountability, a point captured in Lesson 5. The other 4 lessons relate to leadership, collaboration, Indigenous engagement, and intergenerational equity.

Let’s now turn to our audit report on status assessments and reassessments for species at risk. These assessments, which are carried out by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, or COSEWIC, are the essential first step to protect, manage, and recover species that are at risk of disappearing in Canada.

Our audit found that Environment and Climate Change Canada had not provided COSEWIC with the support needed to complete assessments and timely reassessments under the Species at Risk Act. With the department’s target of only 60 assessments and reassessments per year at the time of our audit, it would take over a century to assess the species that are potentially at risk.

Turning now to climate change, we have examined, every year since 2023, the federal government’s progress in implementing the measures in its 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan, which was the first plan under the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act. While the federal government has developed many measures across multiple economic sectors, our audits found that these measures were not sufficient to meet Canada’s 2030 target of reducing emissions by 40% to 45% below 2005 levels.

The message across our work on Canada’s commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is consistent: The stakes are growing higher every year. The window to meet the 2030 target, along with the longer-term target of net-zero emissions by 2050, is rapidly closing. The federal government must pick up the pace in implementing effective measures.

Our work in all 3 of these areas illustrates the need for strong leadership and a long-term approach to achieve Canada’s goals relating to sustainable development, biodiversity, and climate change.

Madam Chair, this concludes my opening statement. We are now pleased to answer questions the committee may have. Thank you.