Language selection

Government of Canada / Gouvernement du Canada

Search

Environment and Climate Change Canada’s 2024-25
Departmental plan at a glance

A departmental plan describes a department’s priorities, plans and associated costs for the upcoming three fiscal years.

Read the full departmental plan  Print this page

Key priorities

Clean growth and climate change

  • Work with Natural Resources Canada to cap oil and gas sector emissions at current levels and ensure that the sector makes an ambitious and achievable contribution to meeting the country’s 2030 climate goals; reduce methane emissions across the broader Canadian economy, consistent with the Global Methane Pledge; and require – through regulations – the reduction of oil and gas methane emissions in Canada by at least 75 percent below 2012 levels by 2030.
  • Ensure the delivery of the Strengthened Climate Plan, implement the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act, and advance an Emissions Reduction Plan to achieve a 40 to 45 percent reduction in emissions by 2030 from 2005 levels.
  • Lead the implementation of Canada’s National Adaptation Strategy to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change, setting clear goals and indicators to measure progress and strengthen the business case for adaptation.

Preventing and managing pollution

  • Make historic investments to protect and restore large lakes and river systems, starting with the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence River System, the Lake Winnipeg Basin, the Fraser River Basin, and the Mackenzie River Basin; and invest in the Experimental Lakes Area in northern Ontario to support international freshwater science and research.
  • Lead efforts to achieve zero plastic waste, including action on: banning harmful single-use plastics; setting requirements for recycled content of plastic packaging; implementing the zero plastic waste action plan; and pursuing other measures.
  • Build on the Ocean Plastics Charter by working with leading countries on the development of a new global agreement on plastics.
  • Implement the strengthened Canadian Environmental Protection Act to protect everyone, including people most vulnerable to harm from toxic substances and those living in communities where exposure is high.
  • Implement a framework on the right to a healthy environment and a new Plan of Chemicals Management Priorities.

Conserving nature

  • Continue to work with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and partners to ensure Canada meets its goals to conserve 25 percent of lands and waters by 2025 and 30 percent of each by 2030 – working to: halt and reverse nature loss by 2030 in Canada; achieve a full recovery for nature by 2050; and champion this goal internationally.
  • Work with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis partners to support new Indigenous Guardians programs; establish new Indigenous Guardians Networks; support Indigenous communities in building capacity to establish more Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas; and address climate change and its impacts with collaborative strategies.
  • Lead the establishment of the Canada Water Agency as a standalone entity that will work with the provinces, territories, Indigenous communities, local authorities, scientists, and others to find the best ways to keep Canada’s water safe, clean, and well-managed.
  • Work with Parks Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and Natural Resources Canada to continue monitoring, protecting, and promoting the recovery of species at risk to help restore their populations.

Predicting weather and environmental conditions

  • Invest in meteorological services to upgrade infrastructure – including information technology – to ensure it continues to effectively perform its vital functions of monitoring changes in the weather, climate, water, ice and air quality, and predicting weather and environmental conditions.
  • Support efforts to anticipate, prevent and prepare for floods, wildfires, droughts, coastline erosion, and other extreme weather worsened by climate change.

Refocusing Government Spending

In Budget 2023, the government committed to reducing spending by $15.4 billion over five years, starting in 2023–24, and by $4.5 billion annually after that by refocusing government spending, including spending on travel and professional services. Through this exercise, the government is finding savings from across government that can be directed towards key priorities such as health care and the clean economy.

In support of this commitment, ECCC will make the following budgetary reductions:Footnote 1

  • 2024-25: $43,061,850
  • 2025-26: $63,482,805
  • 2026-27 and after: $91,008,473

ECCC will achieve these reductions through the following:

  • Reducing professional services by ensuring greater alignment of contracting to priorities and reducing discretionary spending;
  • Reducing travel through effective planning and use of the hybrid work model;
  • Reducing staffing levels through attrition and vacancy management;
  • Reducing a proportion of grants and contribution expenditures;
  • Leveraging efficiencies in internal management and enabling functions including rationalizing spending on common line items, streamlining processes, adjusting the scale and nature of support functions while leveraging technology.

ECCC will work to ensure that impacts are minimized as we adjust our efforts to these reductions.

Highlights

A Departmental Results Framework consists of an organization’s core responsibilities, the results it plans to achieve, and the performance indicators that measure progress toward these results.

Taking Action on Clean Growth and Climate Change

Departmental results:

  • Canadian greenhouse gas and short-lived climate pollutant emissions are reduced
  • Indigenous Peoples are engaged in clean growth and climate change
  • Canada contributes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing climate resilience globally
  • Canadian communities, economies and ecosystems are more resilient

Planned spending: $1,036,877,580

Planned human resources: 1,120

In 2024-25, ECCC will continue to ensure effective carbon pollution pricing across the country. This will include: continuing to implement the federal Output-based Pricing System for industrial emitters; ensuring all carbon pollution pricing systems align with the strengthened minimum national stringency standards; implementing Canada’s GHG Offset Credit System launched in 2022; and returning a portion of fuel charge proceeds to small and medium-sized enterprises and Indigenous recipients. ECCC will also continue to deliver the Low Carbon Economy Fund and the Climate Action and Awareness Fund to promote and facilitate action on clean growth. It will implement the Fuel Charge Proceeds Return Program and the Output-Based Pricing System Proceeds Fund to return proceeds collected through the carbon pollution pricing system back to jurisdictions of origin. The Department will also continue to engage with partners and stakeholders on the regulatory design of Canada’s oil and gas emissions cap to inform the development of draft regulations under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), targeted for 2024.

The Department will pursue its work with other federal organizations in delivering on $1.6 billion of investments announced in 2022 for climate change adaptation and resilience under the Government of Canada Adaptation Action Plan (GOCAAP). This will advance the first-ever National Adaptation Strategy – supporting community-based adaptation in municipalities and providing authoritative science and knowledge of climate change affecting Canada. The Department will support Canada’s continued advocacy for ambitious, comprehensive, and enforceable environmental provisions in its free trade agreements. It will work with international partners to implement existing agreements and other bilateral and regional cooperation instruments. In close collaboration with Global Affairs Canada, the Department will maintain its work with international partners to implement the Paris Agreement, ratified by Canada in October 2016. ECCC will also support developing countries in their transition to sustainable, low-carbon, climate-resilient, nature-positive, and inclusive development. This will be supported by ECCC’s implementation of Canada’s $5.3 billion climate finance commitment in collaboration with Global Affairs Canada.

More information about Taking Action on Clean Growth and Climate Change can be found in the full departmental plan.

Preventing and Managing Pollution

Departmental results:

  • Canadians have clean air
  • Canadians have clean water
  • The Canadian environment is protected from harmful substances

Planned spending: $450,317,681

Planned human resources: 2,148

To protect Canadians and the environment from harmful substances, ECCC will continue to deliver Canada’s Chemicals Management Plan in collaboration with Health Canada. The aim is to reduce the risks to Canadians and the environment posed by chemical substances. The Department will work to put in place amendments to the Cross-Border Movement of Hazardous Waste and Hazardous Recyclable Material Regulations. This will position Canada to accept the proposed e-waste amendments to the Basel Convention Controlling transboundary movements of hazardous waste their disposal and to ratify the Basel Ban amendments to prohibit most exports of hazardous wastes to developing countries.

ECCC will implement new initiatives under the modernized CEPA, as amended by the Strengthening Environmental Protection for a Healthier Canada Act. This will include development of a framework to guide implementation of how the right to a healthy environment will be considered in administering the Act. The implementation framework will be developed in consultation with interested Canadians and published by June 2025. In 2024-25, ECCC will also continue to support and undertake science, promote innovation, and employ tools to ensure that plastics remain in the economy and out of the environment. In collaboration with other federal departments, ECCC will continue to work with provinces and territories through the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment in implementing the 2018 Canada-wide Strategy on Zero Plastic Waste. The Department will continue to play a leadership role globally to accelerate efforts to better manage plastics and pollution. ECCC will also lead federal efforts to develop an ambitious, effective, and legally binding international instrument on plastic pollution in 2024. This will entail working collaboratively with other federal departments and all levels of government, Indigenous Peoples, industry, civil society, and the public.

It is estimated that air pollution causes approximately 15,300 deaths in Canada each year and costs the Canadian economy $120 billion annually in socio-economic terms. To protect the health and environment of Canadians, ECCC will continue to implement the Air Quality Program in collaboration with its federal partners. The Department will also continue to develop, administer, and amend regulations to reduce air pollutant emissions from industrial sources, vehicles, engines, fuels and consumer and commercial products. ECCC will continue to collaborate with Health Canada to implement the Air Quality Health Index, to support informed decision making by Canadians about their health. It will also continue to work with provinces and territories to implement the Air Quality Management System (AQMS) – a comprehensive approach to reducing outdoor air pollution. ECCC will also work with its international partners to further reduce transboundary air pollution.

ECCC will continue to protect fish and fish habitat and Canada’s waters through administration and enforcement of the Pollution Prevention Provisions of the Fisheries Act. Over the next year, the Department will finalize updates to regulations to manage releases from municipal wastewater treatment plants. It will also continue to work with Indigenous Peoples, the public, and industry to establish protective limits for releases from oil sands and coal mining operations.

More information about Preventing and Managing Pollution can be found in the full departmental plan.

Conserving Nature

Departmental results:

  • Canada’s wildlife and habitat are conserved and protected
  • Canada’s species at risk are recovered
  • Indigenous Peoples are engaged in conservation

Planned spending: $736,720,545

Planned human resources: 1,449

ECCC will work domestically and internationally to provide leadership in implementing the new Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), which will guide nature protection and conservation efforts over the next decade. The Department will work with federal partners to engage provinces and territories, Indigenous groups, and stakeholders to develop Canada’s National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan to 2030. This collaborative work will be instrumental in helping Canada reach its goal of halting and reversing nature loss by 2030 and achieving a full recovery by 2050. In addition, ECCC will support the initiative to introduce a biodiversity bill to provide a framework for accountability and transparency in fulfilling federal commitments under the GBF. The Department will play a significant role in advancing the GBF domestically. It will place particular focus on expanding the network of protected and conserved areas working with other federal departments, provinces and territories, Indigenous partners, key industry sectors, environmental non-government organizations, and private foundations and trusts, to conserve 30 percent of Canada’s lands and oceans by 2030. This will include negotiating Nature Agreements with provinces and territories and the provision of support to Indigenous leadership in conservation through the advancement of major Project Finance for Permanence conservation projects. In doing so, the Department will further support Indigenous leadership in conservation through such measures as: supporting Indigenous Guardians initiatives; establishing Indigenous Guardians Networks; and establishing Indigenous-led conservation areas that respect the unique rights, interests, and traditions of Indigenous Peoples.

ECCC will continue administering existing legislative and regulatory frameworks including the Species at Risk Act, Migratory Birds Convention Act, and Canada Wildlife Act to support conservation outcomes. The Department will lead on the creation of protected areas through biosphere reserves, expanded National Wildlife Areas, and collaboration with provinces and territories, Indigenous Peoples, and other partners to protect private lands, recover species at risk, maintain and restore healthy populations of migratory birds, and protect and conserve lands and freshwater — including vital ecosystems and habitats. The Department will continue to implement the Species at Risk Act and the Pan-Canadian Approach to Transforming Species at Risk Conservation in Canada while advancing related policy and program improvements to the conservation and recovery of terrestrial species at risk.

ECCC will provide ongoing support in the development of a new Canada Water Agency, which will work with provinces, territories, Indigenous communities, local authorities, scientists and others to find the best ways to keep Canada’s water safe, clean and well-managed. ECCC will support efforts to restore, improve and protect key freshwater resources, including the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River and Lake Winnipeg basins, as well as other vital freshwater systems and wetlands. The Department will provide science advice as well as regulatory and program support for implementation of the next phase of Canada’s $3.5 billion Oceans Protection Plan. It will also lead Canada’s efforts to address the threat of contaminants to endangered whales in Canadian waters.

More information about Conserving Nature can be found in the full departmental plan.

Predicting Weather and Environmental Conditions

Departmental results:

  • Canadians use authoritative weather and related information to make decisions about their health and safety

Planned spending: $271,887,076

Planned human resources: 1,641

In 2024-25, ECCC will continue to improve its weather and climate prediction services through innovations in technology, infrastructure, and services. The Department will place a special focus on meeting the growing demand for timely, accurate and reliable information about weather and climate-related risks and emergencies. This includes information about wildfires, flooding, extreme temperatures, storms, and other major atmospheric events. The Department will continue to advance its weather and environmental prediction models, and to modernize public forecast services and products. This will include the development of tailored communications products to better inform Canadians on the weather. The Department will also evaluate new technologies for ECCC’s monitoring networks that will help to meet evolving requirements and improve services in key areas, such as high-impact weather and flooding. In addition, ECCC’s National Hydrological Service will continue to: strengthen its engineering and technical capacity; modernize its hydrometric infrastructure; improve services in support of water forecasts; and put in place new technologies to gather and analyze water information.

More information about Predicting Weather and Environmental Conditions can be found in the full departmental plan.

Page details

Date modified: