Sustainable Development Strategy 2007-2010

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Executive Summary

We, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), are a large federal agency with approximately 40,000 employees working in over 150 facilities in 65 communities across Canada. We administer tax laws for the Government of Canada and for most provinces and territories, and administer various social and economic benefit and incentive programs delivered through the tax system.

Sustainable development is part of our business. We reduce the environmental impact of our operations through our Environmental Management System and by using information technology to deliver services more efficiently. We also contribute to the social and economic well-being of Canadians. The way we administer programs on behalf of client governments ensures that Canada's revenue base is protected and that families and individuals receive timely and accurate benefit payments.

For this fourth strategy, we assessed our performance and lessons learned in implementing the commitments in the 2004-2007 strategy. We found that our performance was good, and that the strategy was sound and served to advance our sustainable development agenda. One of the key factors that contributed to this success was our performance measurement framework.

Overall, we reduced the environmental impact of our operations, especially in the areas of waste diverted from landfill and green procurement. We achieved a relatively high level of awareness of sustainable development among employees, and we strengthened the commitment from executives and managers in their performance agreements to contribute to sustainable development in the work place.

With the maturing of our sustainable development program, we are now ready to broaden our scope to demonstrate how the CRA's mandate contributes to all three pillars of sustainable development—economic prosperity, social well-being, and environmental protection. We want to better understand and report on how our programs impact on Canadians, taxpayers, benefit recipients, clients, and employees. We will spend the first year of this Strategy challenging ourselves to develop a report card on sustainable development (economic, social, and environmental) indicators spanning all of the CRA's business lines.

In this strategy, we have set aggressive targets for greening internal operations, while also providing a framework for the CRA to define exactly how it is a socially responsible organization. This strategy will lead us towards our long-term goals to: reduce the effects of our operations on land, air, and water (Goal 1); demonstrate sustainable service delivery of tax and benefit programs (Goal 2); have all employees apply sustainable development in their jobs (Goal 3); and use modern systems to support and maintain sustainable development (Goal 4).

Over the next three years, we must increase leadership from middle and senior management and sustain support from our Sustainable Development (SD) Champions. We must maintain an engaged and active national SD Network and local SD committees, representing all branches and regions. Finally, we will rely on the expertise of the SD Division in Headquarters to keep us informed of emerging trends and innovation in sustainable development in the public and private sectors.

In summary, the key to our success thus far is having a good framework in place, backed by senior management support and a committed SD Network. It is also important to note that our work in building good management systems, progressive work plans, and a performance measurement framework has not gone unnoticed. Our program has received favorable audit results, public support, and received awards of excellence from the environmental industry. We are proud of our work thus far, and pledge to keep exploring new opportunities to leverage sustainable development to enhance our business objectives, minimize our environmental impacts, and maximize our contributions to the economic and social well-being of Canadians.

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