2023-24 Departmental Results Report: Response to parliamentary committees and external audits

Response to parliamentary committees

List of committee reports

Report 9 of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development, The Government of Canada's Planned Phase-Out of Fossil Fuel Subsidies and of Public Financing of the Fossil Fuel Sector.

• The report was presented to the House of Commons on Tuesday, June 20, 2023.
• The Government Response was presented to the House of Commons on Wednesday, October 18, 2023.

Response to audits conducted by the Public Service Commission of Canada or the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages

Spring 2023 Reports of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development

Forests and Climate Change

• The audit objective was to determine whether Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), working with ECCC, adequately designed and implemented the 2 billion Trees Program and estimated and reported on historical and future forest-sector carbon emissions and removals in a credibly and transparent manner.
• The audit concluded that NRCan, working with ECCC, did not adequately design and implement the 2 billion Trees Program and did not provide a full and transparent picture of how Canada’s forests remove carbon from the atmosphere or contribute carbon to it.
• There were 3 recommendations addressed to ECCC. The Department agreed with all recommendations and prepared a management action plan to address them.
• The report and ECCC’s response can be viewed on the Office of the Auditor General of Canada’s website – Report 1 – Forests and Climate Change

Follow-up on the Recovery of Species at Risk

• The audit objective was to determine whether ECCC, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and Parks Canada (PC) were meeting the timeline requirements of the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA) specific to the development of recovery strategies, action plans and management plans and related implementation reports and whether they were meeting the objectives set out in the recovery strategies and management plans.
• The audit concluded that ECCC and DFO did not always meet the timelines required in SARA specific to the development of recovery strategies, action plans, management plans and related implementation plans, and that ECCC, DFO and PC were not on track to meet the objectives set out in recovery strategies and management plans for wildlife species at risk.
• There was 1 recommendation addressed to ECCC. The Department agreed with it and prepared a management action plan to address it.
• The report and ECCC’s response can be viewed on the Office of the Auditor General of Canada’s website – Report 2 – Follow-up on the Recovery of Species at Risk

Discretionary Powers to Protect Species at Risk

• The audit objective was to determine whether ECCC took a timely and evidence-based approach to advising the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to recommend applying the safety net and emergency order provisions of the Species at Risk Act.
• The audit concluded that ECCC did not have a timely and evidence-based approach to informing the Minister on the safety net and emergency order provisions to protect terrestrial species at risk and their habitats on non-federal lands.
• There were 7 recommendations addressed to ECCC. The Department agreed with all recommendations and prepared a management action plan to address them.
• The report and ECCC’s response can be viewed on the Office of the Auditor General of Canada’s website – Report 3 – Discretionary Powers to Protect Species at Risk

Emission Reductions Through Greenhouse Gas Regulations

• The audit objective was to examine whether selected regulations administered by ECCC achieved their greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets and contributed as intended to long-term mitigation goals.
• The audit concluded that selected GHG regulations administered by ECCC achieved some, but not all, of their reduction targets and had not yet contributed as intended to Canada’s long-term goals for climate change mitigation. Also, ECCC could not be certain whether its methane regulations were helping Canada t reach its targets, and took more than five years to develop the Clean Fuel Regulations, twice as long as initially planned.
• There were 3 recommendations addressed to ECCC. The Department agreed with all recommendations and prepared a management action plan to address them.
• The report and ECCC’s response can be viewed on the Office of the Auditor General of Canada’s website – Report 5 – Emission Reductions Through Greenhouse Gas Regulations – Environment and Climate Change Canada

Fall 2023 Reports of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development

Canadian Net Zero Emissions Accountability Act – 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan

• The audit objective was to determine whether ECCC, in consultation with key federal organizations, designed a credible and inclusive 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan and whether responsible organizations implemented selected measures to meet the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.
• The audit concluded that mitigations measures in the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan were insufficient to meet Canada’s 2030 target: missing and inconsistent information, delays in launching important measures and lack of reliability in projections hindered the credibility of the plan. Although the plan was designed with measures that could deliver sizeable reductions, fragmented accountabilities for reducing emissions and lack of prioritization of measures were barriers to success. In addition, it concluded that federal organizations made efforts toward inclusivity by identifying, for certain measures in the plan, the groups that were disproportionately affected and developing some measures to support affected groups. However, the plan’s design was not fully inclusive, as organizations lacked the performance indicators and disaggregated data needed to assess if these measures were working.
• There were 8 recommendations addressed to ECCC. The Department agreed with 6 and partially agreed with 2 of the recommendations. ECCC prepared a management action plan to address the recommendations.
• The report and ECCC’s response can be viewed on the Office of the Auditor General of Canada’s website – Report 6 – Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act – 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan

Departmental Progress in Implementing Sustainable Development Strategies – Zero-Emission Vehicles

• The audit objective was to determine whether the selected federal entities contributed to meeting the target for zero-emission vehicles in the federal administrative fleet under the Greening Government goal in the 2019-22 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy and related to United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (UN SDG) 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) target of promoting public procurement practices that are sustainable, as applicable to each entity.
• The audit concluded that National Defence, Parks Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency contributed marginally to meeting the target of 80% of vehicles in the federal administrative fleet being zero-emission vehicles by 2030. The pace and the extent of the contributions make meeting the target unlikely by 2030. Moreover, selected organizations’ reporting on progress toward achievement of UN SDG 12 and target number 12.7 was limited.
• There were no recommendations addressed to ECCC.
• The report and ECCC’s response can be viewed on the Office of the Auditor General of Canada’s website – Report 7 – Departmental Progress in Implementing Sustainable Development Strategies – Zero-Emission Vehicles