Archived: Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy 2013-14 report, Environment and Climate Change Canada, chapter 5
Section 5: Sustainable Development Management System
Environment Canada’s Sustainable Development Vision
Environment Canada’s sustainable development vision is to improve Canadians’ standard of living by conserving the environment, protecting human health, using resources efficiently, and advancing long-term economic competitiveness.
Departmental Sustainable Development Practices
The concept of sustainable development rests at the core of the Department’s mandate and is an intrinsic part of the planning, decision making, and execution of departmental programming and initiatives. Flexible yet robust processes are essential for the Department when considering the social, economic and environmental dimensions of strategy, policy and programs. To this end, the Department’s planning and decision-making processes, as part of an established corporate governance structure, provide both formal and informal opportunities for considering issues, setting priorities and rendering decisions or making recommendations as necessary.
Sustainable Development Champion
The Assistant Deputy Minister of Environment Canada’s Strategic Policy Branch and Regional Directors General Offices is the Sustainable Development Champion, providing overall leadership for the departmental responsibilities related to sustainable development. In 2013-14, the Champion:
- Provided overall leadership and coordination in the implementation of the Federal Sustainable Development Act, through effective interdepartmental engagement and the Sustainable Development Office;
- Coordinated the development of and tabled the 2013-16 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS), which updates the whole-of-government view of environmental priorities across 30 departments and agencies and helps to make environmental decision making more transparent and accountable;
- Provided leadership for the Department on strategic environmental assessment (SEA); and
- Provided environmental sustainability indicators through the Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators (CESI) program, to convey the state of Canada’s environment in a straightforward and transparent manner and provide data and information to track Canada’s performance on key environmental issues (including climate change and air quality, water quality and availability, and protecting nature).
Intergovernmental Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement
Environment Canada's sustainable development decisions and actions require collaboration, partnership and information exchanges with key partners and stakeholders, including other levels of government, Aboriginal peoples, industry, environmental non-governmental organizations, and Canadian citizens. As such, Environment Canada aims to foster positive, long-term relationships with these key constituencies in all of its activities.
For example, relationships with provincial and territorial partners are advanced through bilateral agreements, as well as through multilateral participation in the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, and the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Working Group on International Climate Change. In addition, the Department consults and engages with Aboriginal peoples and stakeholders to deliver on core priorities such as protecting and conserving air, water, wildlife and natural areas.
Decision-Making Tools
Regulatory Impact Analysis Statements
Environment Canada uses regulatory impact analysis statements (RIAS) to summarize the expected impacts of the regulatory initiatives that address each of the requirements of the Federal Government’s regulatory policy, namely the Cabinet Directive on Regulatory Management. The use of RIAS has long been recognized as an international best practice, and RIAS have been used in Canada for over 20 years.
RIAS provide a comprehensive, non-technical synthesis of information that allow various audiences to understand the environmental issue being regulated, as well as the Federal Government’s objectives, and the costs and benefits of a regulatory initiative. RIAS also indicate who will be affected, who was consulted in developing the regulatory initiative, and how the Federal Government will evaluate and measure the performance of the regulatory initiative against its stated objectives. RIAS function as a key decision-making tool by estimating and raising awareness of the environmental, economic and societal impact of Environment Canada’s regulatory initiatives and they enable the Government to explain to the public the need for each regulatory initiative and the trade-off associated with each one.
In 2013-14, Environment Canada completed more than 20 RIAS on different regulatory initiatives related to transportation, energy, air quality, industrial sectors, chemical management and species at risk, in line with the Department’s sustainable development mandate. Specifically, these RIAS examined: light duty vehicles; Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); off-road small ignition engines; the Sage Grouse; amendment to the Migratory Bird Hunting Regulations and Renewable Fuels Regulations; the issue of disposal at Sea; prohibition of certain toxic substances; and coal-fired generation of electricity.
Environmental Indicators
Environment Canada provides regular indicator updates (data and information) used through the Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators (CESI) program. CESI is the prime vehicle for measuring the progress of the FSDS, and Canada’s performance on key environmental sustainability issues (please see Section 2 of this Supplementary Information Table for a list of Environment Canada’s indicators and actual results). The environmental indicators are based on objective and comprehensive information and convey environmental trends in a straightforward and transparent manner.
The indicators are prepared by Environment Canada with the support of other federal government departments, such as Health Canada, Statistics Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and provincial and territorial government departments. Designed to be relevant to government environmental policy priorities, the indicators are built on rigorous methodology and high-quality data from a variety of sources including surveys, monitoring networks, and other research initiatives.
National, regional, local and international trends are readily accessible to all Canadians on the Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators (CESI) website, which includes graphics, explanatory text, interactive maps and downloadable data. Each indicator is accompanied by a technical explanation of its calculation and links to related socio-economic issues and information.
Ongoing Monitoring and Reporting
Implementation of the DSDS will be monitored and reported on an ongoing basis in two ways:
- periodic reporting to the Executive Management CommitteeFootnote 13; and
- annual reporting in the DSDS Supplementary Information Tables supporting the departmental Reports on Plans and Priorities and Departmental Performance Reports.
Audit and Evaluation
The Department’s activities in support of the FSDS will be evaluated as part of Environment Canada’s Sustainability and Reporting Indicators Program, scheduled for evaluation in 2014-15Footnote 14. The evaluation will address issues related to relevance and performance in compliance with the Treasury Board’s Policy on Evaluation (2009).
An internal audit of Environment Canada’s contribution to the FSDS will be considered in the context of the Department’s annual risk-based audit plan required by the Treasury Board’s Policy on Internal Audit.
The Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development is also required to periodically conduct a review of the FSDS. Environment Canada was included in the 2013 Review of Departmental Sustainable Development Strategies for its use of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Greening Government Operations (GGO) practices. The review found that the Department had made satisfactory progress in strengthening its practices concerning SEAs by updating its internal guidance and improving its reporting process. The Department was also found to have made satisfactory progress in its GGO practices. Environment Canada was cited for a number of best practices, including its use of over 100 videoconferencing locations across Canada, resulting in less travel for staff. Also, the Department operates an Envirobus service between its three National Headquarters locations, reducing the need for taxis and personal vehicles. The number of riders using this service per month was found to have more than doubled between March 2012 and March 2013.
In addition, the Audit and Evaluation Branch regularly monitors and reports on the status of management commitments made in response to previous audit and evaluation recommendations. Doing so provides Environment Canada’s senior management with timely information on how well the Department is addressing issues or opportunities raised in previous audits and evaluations, including any that would pertain to the FSDS.