Canada’s Preparedness to Implement the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals; Perspectives on Climate Change Action in Canada—A Collaborative Report from Auditors General

Opening Statement to the Senate Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources

Canada’s Preparedness to Implement the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals

(Report 2—2018 Spring Reports of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development)

Perspectives on Climate Change Action in Canada—A Collaborative Report from Auditors General

(Perspectives on Climate Change Action in Canada—A Collaborative Report from Auditors General—March 2018)

14 June 2018

Julie Gelfand
Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development

Madam Chair, thank you for this opportunity to discuss two of the reports we presented to Parliament this past spring. I am accompanied by Kimberley Leach, Principal.

In the audit described in the first report, we looked at seven federal organizations to assess whether the government was prepared to implement the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This audit is Canada’s contribution to an effort by auditors general from around the world to assess their governments’ preparedness to implement international sustainable development commitments.

Canada adopted the 2030 Agenda in 2015 as part of a worldwide effort to achieve the United Nations’ 17 sustainable development goals. These goals call for action in many areas to achieve a sustainable world, including quality education, sustainable cities and economic growth, and conservation of biodiversity.

We found that three years after making this commitment, the government was not prepared to implement the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda. It did not have a whole-of-government approach, and leadership for implementation was split among five departments. In my opinion, it is difficult to make progress with 10 hands on the wheel. We also found that the government had no communication or engagement strategy to include other levels of government and Canadians. Furthermore, it had yet to develop a complete set of national targets.

Although data is being collected to measure Canada’s performance against the 2030 Agenda’s global indicators, we found no system to measure, monitor, and report on progress against national targets once they were defined.

Without a clear lead, an implementation plan, and accurate and ongoing measurement and monitoring of results, Canada will not be able to fulfill the commitments it made to its citizens and to the United Nations.

Despite the risks to sustainable development that we identified in this audit and in previous audits, we still have not seen the federal government integrate the economy, society, and the environment in a meaningful way.

The second report I am presenting to you today is a collaborative report on climate change. It is quite historic in that it represents the first time so many auditors general in Canada partnered to assess an issue of such national magnitude.

Each participating provincial office completed an audit of climate change and reported the findings to its legislature. As you know, I did the same at the federal level, delivering my report to Parliament last fall and appearing before your Committee to present my findings in December.

The Auditor General of Canada, in his capacity of auditor to the three territorial governments, also provided climate change reports to the legislative assemblies of the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut.

I would like to present to you this morning some key points we raised in this collaborative audit report on climate change.

First, the good news. The findings from the federal, provincial, and territorial climate change audits confirmed that Canada’s governments were working on climate change. All governments agreed that climate change is an important issue, and they committed to taking significant action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change.

The bad news is that most governments are not on track to meet their targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Seven governments had not set an overall reduction target for 2020. Six jurisdictions had—the federal government and British Columbia, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador. Of those that had set targets, two were on track to achieve them—New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Canada has now set a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. All provinces and territories have stated that they intend to contribute toward meeting it. However, the audit work showed that only New Brunswick, Ontario, and the Northwest Territories had set targets for 2030. And the federal government did not yet know how it would measure the contribution of each territory and province toward meeting the new national target.

The audit work showed that a majority of provinces and territories had developed high-level strategies to reduce emissions. But they lacked detailed timelines, implementation plans, and cost estimates. In addition, many governments did not know if their planned actions would be enough to meet their emission reduction targets, or they already knew that their planned actions would fall short.

For example, in 2016, British Columbia issued a Climate Leadership Plan, which outlined the government’s planned actions to reduce emissions. However, the plan did not build a clear and measurable pathway to meeting the targets, and it was missing a clear schedule or detailed information about implementing the mitigation plan.

Similarly, the Northwest Territories greenhouse gas strategy, which expired in 2015, lacked meaningful targets for emissions.

The auditors also looked at what governments had done to help Canadians prepare for the impacts of a changing climate. The first thing governments need to do is figure out what the risks of climate change are. The report shows that only Nova Scotia had undertaken a detailed, government-wide assessment of risks.

The auditors found some good practices in specific jurisdictions, such as work that was under way to map flood plains or to address permafrost thawing in the North. Some governments had undertaken risk assessments for individual communities, sectors, or government departments.

For example, in 2017, the Government of Nunavut assessed the risks that climate change posed to sources of drinking water in communities. It also completed an assessment of climate change risks to the territory’s mining sector, including to infrastructure such as access roads, airstrips, and tailings (or mining waste).

However, the federal government, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and the Northwest Territories had no adaptation strategy or plan at all.

The collaborative report also provides questions like the following, which legislators and Canadians could consider asking as governments across the country move forward on their climate change commitments.

Honourable Senators, we encourage the members of this Committee to have a look at these questions.

Madam Chair, this concludes my opening remarks. We are happy to answer any questions you may have.