Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy
On this page
- Context for the Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy
- Sustainable development in Employment and Social Development Canada
- Departmental performance by FSDS goal
- Report on Integrating Sustainable Development
Context for the Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy
The 2016–2019 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS):
- sets out the Government of Canada's sustainable development priorities
- establishes goals and targets
- identifies actions to achieve them, as required by the Federal Sustainable Development Act
The objectives of the act are to make environmental decisions more transparent and accountable to Parliament. According to these, the department supports reporting on the implementation of the 2016 to 2019 FSDS through its own 2017 to 2020 Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy (DSDS). This reporting is done through the activities described in this supplementary information table.
Sustainable development in Employment and Social Development Canada
The department's DSDS for 2017 to 2020 describes the department's actions in support of achieving the "Low-Carbon Government" goal. The table below presents available results for the departmental actions pertinent to this goal. Last year's table is posted on the department's website. This year, the department is also noting which UN SDG target each departmental action contributed to achieving.
Departmental performance by FSDS goal
Employment and Social Development Canada supports the FSDA and, more specifically, the goal and target of the 2016 to 2019 FSDS to lower carbon emissions in Canada. Despite its extensive operational infrastructure, the department is not involved in activities improving the energy efficiency of buildings since all departmental facilities are owned and/or operated by Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC). In this context, the scope of the department's initiatives contributing to making the government's operations low carbon focused on fleet management issues, green procurement practices as well as information technology and management initiatives.
The following table provides performance information on departmental actions in support of the FSDS goal listed in section 2.
FSDS goal: GOAL #2: Low-Carbon Government – The Government of Canada leads by example by making its operations low-carbon
FSDS target(s): Reduce greenhouse gas emissions from federal government buildings and fleets by 40% below 2005 levels by 2030, with an aspiration to achieve it by 2025
Support for UN Sustainable Development Goal target*: Goal 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production
| Corresponding departmental action(s) | Starting point(s), target(s) and performance indicator(s) for departmental actions | Results achieved in 2018 to 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Track Fuel consumption of the Department's fleet. | Improve overall fuel consumption per vehicle, year to year, for the fleet. | The department showed a 3.5% reduction to its overall fuel consumption in fiscal year 2018 to 2019 (from 138,939 litres in fiscal year 2017 to 2018 to 134,079 litres in fiscal year 2018 to 2019). The department reduced its GHG emissions from fleet by 3.5% (from 0.320 ktCO2e in fiscal year 2017 to 2018 to 0.309 ktCO2e in fiscal year 2018 to 2019). Comment: GHG emissions from fleet in fiscal year 2005 to 2006 (base year) was: 1.44 ktCO2e. |
| Purchase fuel-efficient and hybrid-electric vehicles. | Increase percentage of hybrid vehicles in fleet from 11.6% in 2013 to 2014 to 20% by 2020. | Current % of hybrid vehicles in fleet is 18% (19 vehicles out of 108). |
| Ensure justifications are present when buying SUVs, rather than the standard sedans. | Ensure all new SUV purchases are justified in annual fleet plan. | This target has been met – all new SUV purchases are justified in an annual fleet plan. |
| Promote behavior change – for example, anti-idling campaigns, car sharing initiatives, green driving habits, etc. | Update policy and issue guidance to users promoting behaviour change by December 2018. | This target has been met. Fleet management guidance and driver's agreement which encourage green driving behaviours was updated in 2018. |
| Corresponding departmental action(s) | Starting point(s), target(s) and performance indicator(s) for departmental actions | Results achieved in 2018 to 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Use PSPC tools with green measures (for example, furniture) in support of green procurement | Where green procurement tools are available, 80% of contracts for that commodity are to use such tools. | 99% (value) or 97% (volume) of office furniture/equipment procurement actions were considered green (included green or environmental requirements). 97% (value) or 91% (volume) of security equipment procurement actions were considered green. |
| Ensure procurement specialists complete the Canada School of Public Service Green Procurement course within one year of commencement. | 90% of procurement specialists to complete green procurement training within their 1st year in the department. | 100% of procurement specialists completed green procurement training within their first year in the department. |
| Ensure new contracts for logistic services include measures to improve environmental performance (as a percentage of all new contracts for logistic services) | 75% of new contracts for logistics services to include measures to improve environmental performance (as a percentage of all new contracts for logistics services). | None of the logistics contracts were considered green procurement. Note that when this target was set initially, PSPC procurement instruments used by the department were considered green, but these tools were subsequently changed and are no longer considered green. A Green Policy clause has been added to the contract clauses of the most recent procurement RFP template (June 2019) with specific instructions on usage with logistics related requirements. |
| Improve existing approaches to sustainable workplace practices (in other words, printer ratios, paper usage and green meetings). | Reduction of paper usage from the baseline number established in 2016 to 2017. | In 2018 to 2019, the department consumed 146.4M sheets of paper in comparison to the previous fiscal year (152.1M), which represents a 4% decrease. Notwithstanding these positive results, the department is continuing to explore opportunities to reduce paper consumption, including encouraging the use of mobile devices (laptops/tablets) instead of paper at meetings. Enabling a scan to email/shared folder/SharePoint as a standard for some business lines, and use of electronic signatures to further reduce the department's paper consumption is currently being explored. |
| Select and operate IT and office equipment in a manner that reduces energy consumption and material usage. | This action is in progress. | The department's implementation of this target is in progress:
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| Corresponding departmental action(s) | Starting point(s), target(s) and performance indicator(s) for departmental actions | Results achieved in 2018 to 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Ensure procurement specialists and managers in procurement operations have green procurement in their performance agreements, to be applied to applicable procurements. | 100% of all procurement specialists have a statement in their Performance Agreements that green procurement must be considered when buying "applicable products". | This target has been met. 100% of procurement specialists had a green procurement statement in their performance agreements. |
Additional departmental sustainable development activities and initiatives related to GOAL #2: Low-Carbon Government – The Government of Canada leads by example by making its operations low-carbon
| Additional departmental activities and initiatives | Starting points, targets and performance indicators | Results achieved in 2018 to 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Further reduction of the print devices ratio to employees. | The managed print services contract called for user to print device ratios to fall within the 10:1 to 15:1 range. | The department's user-to-print device ratio is 14.4:1 which falls within the target range and exceeds the TBS target of 8:1. |
| Reduction of the standard desktop operating device in favour of more mobile units. | The 5 year plan outlines a target ratio of 80% mobile devices by 2022 to 2023. The 2016 to 2017 baseline ratio was at 20.6%. | As of April 1, 2019, 36% of employees had mobile devices. |
| Use of a single 34" monitor rather than providing everyone with 2 24" monitors. | The 5 year strategic plan outlined a willingness to move to 34" monitors instead of 2 24" models. | It was determined that 34'' monitors have a price differential over 2 24'' monitors. The current workstation standard of 2 monitors per workstation, as defined in the hardware policy, remains. |
| Use of imaging capacity to further reduce paper holdings. | N/A | A digital repository has been put in place to facilitate electronic document storage. |
| Expansion of Video-Conferencing services and E-meetings. | N/A | The department migrated to Skype for Business in order to provide employees with an upgraded Instant Messaging capability. Using a multi-phased approach for the rollout, the first wave of 4,500 employees have been provided with advanced audio/video and desktop sharing capabilities. Plans are underway to expand the Skype audio/video capability to another 17,000 users. The work is expected to start in late July 2019/early August 2019, following the migration of all users to the new Skype for Business 2015 Infrastructure. |
| Increased awareness and education of staff about the cost of printing. | N/A | A review of the Intranet site (iService) was conducted and has shown that there is no concrete information for employees about printing costs nor general education around this topic. The information will be posted on iService by the end of the 2nd quarter of 2019 to 2020. |
Report on Integrating Sustainable Development
Employment and Social Development Canada participates in the development and implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. This approach includes the whole society. It aligns and complements the goals of the department's Sustainable Development Strategy (DSDS) and those of the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS).
The department is host of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Unit. In 2018 to 2019, the unit supported the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in various ways. The unit coordinated pan-governmental action on the SDGs. It led the development of an interim document, Towards a 2030 Agenda National Strategy. This document was produced through consultations with several partners and stakeholders. These included not-for-profit organizations, provinces and territories, municipalities, academia, the private sector, and Indigenous peoples. The unit also administered the SDG Funding Program.
The department has listed its existing programs that support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It also coordinates work carried out internally to discuss the continued integration of the SDGs in policies, initiatives and programs.
In addition, the department established a governance framework for the 2030 Agenda at the federal level with participation from federal departments.
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