Follow-up to Public Services and Procurement Canada’s response to Petition 500 on the government’s plan to achieve net-zero procurement by 2050

Petition: 500B

Issue(s): Climate change; Compliance and enforcement; Corporate social responsibility; Governance; Transport

Petitioner(s): A Canadian resident

Petitioner location(s): Whitby, Ontario

Date received: 6 August 2024

Status: Completed—Response(s) to petition received

Summary: The petition is a follow‑up to Public Services and Procurement Canada’s response to Petition 500. The petition references the 2022–26 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy, which states that one of the federal government’s targets is to achieve net‑zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 in the procurement of goods and services. The petition claims that procurement accounts for 67% of the federal government’s annual carbon footprint and can be divided into multiple categories, including information technology purchases, construction procurement, energy purchases, vehicle purchases, and other goods and services.

According to the petition, several carbon accounting approaches could eliminate or reduce product carbon footprints, including the government leasing and renting products instead of purchasing them and the government purchasing carbon offset credits. The petition asks whether the federal government would consider implementing any of these approaches.

The petition states that Scope 1, Scope 2, and transportation-related Scope 3 emissions across the different tiers in a supplier’s supply chain contribute to the products’ carbon footprints. The petition notes that a robust net‑zero procurement system would incentivize suppliers of all sizes to reduce their emissions, because the current Standard on the Disclosure of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and the Setting of Reduction Targets applies only to major suppliers despite small- and medium-sized enterprises being responsible for 42% of Canada’s emissions. The petition asks whether the federal government would consider deploying such a procurement system across all levels of government in Canada. The petition references the Net‑Zero Ambition Assessment Tool, which scores how suppliers involved in final assembly and sales could reduce their Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions to net zero by 2050. The petition asks whether the federal government would consider deploying and using this tool with all its suppliers.

Federal departments/organizations responsible for reply: Public Services and Procurement Canada