At a GlanceReport 6—Departmental Progress in Implementing Sustainable Development Strategies—Healthy Coasts and Oceans, Pristine Lakes and Rivers, and Sustainable Food
Why we did this audit
- This review is important because departmental results reports are intended to inform Canadians and parliamentarians about how departments and agencies performed against their departmental strategies. These reports can help Canadians and parliamentarians understand progress toward the goals of healthy coasts and oceans, pristine lakes and rivers, and sustainable food.
- If available information on departmental actions is incomplete or unclear, Canadians and parliamentarians cannot be certain about the progress made toward any of the goals of healthy coasts and oceans, pristine lakes and rivers, and sustainable food.
Our findings
- Federal departments and agencies did not completely and clearly report on the results of the actions presented in their sustainable development strategies.
- To report meaningfully on progress toward long-term sustainable development goals, it is important to show a clear link between departmental actions and a goal’s targets.
Key facts and figures
- Overall, progress reporting on these actions was poorly performed. For example, departmental actions were often missing a performance indicator, or the performance indicators were missing important information to be able to report on progress.
- Organizations did not report results for almost half of the actions presented in their sustainable development strategies.
- We found that of the 52 departmental actions that departments and agencies reported for the 3 goals, 41 (79%) did not follow the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s guidance on reporting.
Our recommendations
- When reporting on progress, departments and agencies should clearly describe the extent to which they met the actions in their sustainable development strategies, using the relevant performance indicators.
The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, in its guidance, asked departments and agencies to report links, when they exist, between their sustainable development actions and the targets associated with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. In our 2021 review, we looked at whether departmental progress reporting included such links, related to the federal strategy’s goals of healthy coasts and oceans, pristine lakes and rivers, and sustainable food.
Visit our Sustainable Development page to learn more about sustainable development and the Office of the Auditor General of CanadaOAG.