At a glance – Five-year Departmental Evaluation Plan, from fiscal year 2020 to 2021 to fiscal year 2024 to 2025, Environment and Climate Change Canada

About the Departmental Evaluation Plan

Environment and Climate Change Canada’s (ECCC) Audit and Evaluation Branch (AEB) produces a five-year rolling departmental evaluation plan that is informed by an annual planning exercise and approved by the Deputy Ministers. The plan follows the Mandatory Procedure for Evaluation outlined in the Directive on Results. It is a result of discussions at each ECCC branch executive management table. As well, the ADM Corporate Operations Committee reviewed the document and provided comments. The Executive Management Committee recommended the plan for deputy ministerial approval. The Deputy Minister and the Associate Deputy Minister approved the Departmental Evaluation Plan (DEP) on August 3, 2020.

The plan is designed to ensure that the Deputy Ministers and senior management have credible, timely and neutral information on the ongoing relevance and performance of direct program spending and ongoing programs of grants and contributions. The intent is to support evidence-based decision making and provide results to the Canadian public.

The plan serves as a resource to:

• assess the Department’s compliance with the Financial Administration Act (FAA) and the Policy on Results
• ensure that evaluation commitments in submissions approved by the Treasury Board are respected
• confirm evaluation coverage of the areas of highest risk for the Department
• assess the adequacy of resourcing for the evaluation function

The DEP is a five-year rolling plan. For any number of reasons, work planned for a given year may need to be deferred and could thus impact the work in subsequent years.

Project selection for the 2020 to 2025 plan

The AEB uses the previous year's risk assessments and plans as a starting point for the annual planning exercise. The approach to planning includes the following key activities and principles:

• consult with senior executives, relevant ECCC governance committees and the Treasury Board Secretariat
• review ECCC's programs and priorities and certain key documents, including the Departmental Plan and the Departmental Corporate Risk Profile
• develop a list of all mandatory evaluation requirements, including fulfilling commitments specified in Treasury Board submissions and addressing the statutory requirements of the FAA (section 42.1)
• take into account similar risks and projects identified by key partner departments (for example, science-based departments and agencies), and consider opportunities for collaboration and joint evaluations

The final plan reflects an adequate resource allocation. It factors in the AEB’s available resources, capacity and expertise, as well as the capacity of ECCC branch and program areas to accommodate multiple projects.

Evaluation resources and capacity

The Evaluation Division shares resources with the Internal Audit Division for branch administration, the provision of support to committees, the publication of reports and follow-up on recommendations.

For FY 2020 to 2021, the Evaluation Division forecasts:

• a budget of $2.34 million
• 16.35 full-time equivalents

ECCC’s five-year evaluation plan

32 evaluation projects are planned for FY 2020 to 2021 to FY 2024 to 2025.

• 26 of the 32 projects are being conducted to meet mandatory evaluation requirements
• 6 of the 32 projects are discretionary evaluations identified during consultations with senior management and the Deputy Ministers as being of particular value to support decision making
• ECCC is the lead department on 8 horizontal evaluations and a participant in 10 horizontal evaluation projects

Overview of planned ECCC evaluation projects, by fiscal year of approval by the Deputy Ministers

Fiscal year 2020 to 2021

• Major Projects Management Office Initiative (horizontal evaluation ECCC participant)
• West Coast Energy Infrastructure Initiative (horizontal evaluation, ECCC participant)
• Single Window Initiative (horizontal evaluation, ECCC participant)
• Adaptation Gap Analysis  (ECCC internal evaluation)
• Oceans Protection Plan (ECCC internal evaluation)
• International Climate Change Cooperation (horizontal evaluation, ECCC lead)
• Genomics Research and Development Initiative (horizontal evaluation, ECCC participant)
• Addressing Air Pollution (horizontal evaluation, ECCC lead)
• Freshwater Basins (ECCC internal evaluation)
• Canada Nature Fund – Protected Areas and Species at Risk (ECCC internal formative evaluation)
• Weather Observations, Forecasts and Warnings (ECCC internal evaluation)
• Environmental Damages Fund (ECCC internal evaluation)

Fiscal year 2021 to 2022

• World Class Tanker Safety (horizontal evaluation, ECCC participant)
• Federal Leadership Towards Zero Plastic Waste in Canada (horizontal evaluation, ECCC lead)
• Canadian Centre for Climate Services (ECCC internal evaluation)
• Hydrological Services (ECCC internal evaluation)
• Core Climate Change Mitigation (ECCC internal evaluation)
• Green Municipal Fund (horizontal evaluation, ECCC lead)
• Trans-Mountain Pipeline Expansion – Phase IV Implementation (horizontal evaluation, ECCC participant)

Fiscal year 2022 to 2023

• Impact Assessment and Regulatory Processes Initiative (horizontal evaluation, ECCC participant)
• Species at Risk Program, including SAR components of the Canadian Nature Fund (horizontal evaluation, ECCC lead)
• Protected Areas Program, including the protected areas component of the Canadian Nature Fund (ECCC internal evaluation)
• Pan-Canadian Carbon Pricing (horizontal evaluation, ECCC lead)
• Oceans Protection Plan (horizontal evaluation, ECCC participant)
• St. Lawrence Program (ECCC internal evaluation to support long-term renewal)
• Whales Initiative, including Protection Measures for the Southern Resident Killer Whale (horizontal evaluation, ECCC participant)
• Emergency Management Strategy – Floodplain Mapping and Alerting for Coastal Flooding (ECCC internal evaluation)

Fiscal year 2023 to 2024

• Low Carbon Economy Fund (ECCC internal evaluation)
• Trans-Mountain Pipeline Expansion – Evaluation of Terrestrial Cumulative Effects Initiative (horizontal evaluation, ECCC lead)

Fiscal year 2024 to 2025

• Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan: Phase IV (horizontal evaluation, ECCC lead)
• Climate Action Incentive Fund (ECCC internal evaluation)
• Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (horizontal evaluation, ECCC participant)