Question Period Note: GREENING GOVERNMENT

The government is transitioning to low-carbon and climate-resilient
operations, while also reducing environmental impacts beyond carbon. Led by the Centre for Greening Government in TBS, the government will ensure that we are a global leader in government operations that are low-carbon, resilient and green.

• Our Government is committed to leading on climate change, which includes taking action on reducing the greenhouse gas emissions generated from its own operations.
• We must lead by example. Our Greening Government Strategy aims to reduce GHG emissions from federal operations by 80% below 2005 levels, striving to be carbon neutral, by 2050. At the end of 2019, we were at 32%.
• The Government is also committed to taking action to reduce plastic waste. By 2030, at least 75% of plastic waste generated by federal operations will be diverted away from landfills.

By issuing the Greening Government Strategy, the Government has reaffirmed its commitment in greening the government’s own operations to demonstrate its leadership on climate change. It committed to reducing its own greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 (with an aspiration to achieve this target by 2025) and 80% below 2005 levels by 2050 (with an aspiration to be carbon neutral).
In 2018-19, the government’s greenhouse gas reporting was extended to include all departments that own significant numbers of vehicles and buildings. Although additional departments were included, the federal government was able to maintain its course on emissions reduction. In fact, the government showed an overall reduction of 32% below 2005 levels, the same as the previous year. The result also indicates that departments took tangible steps to further reduce their emissions, because Canada experienced a hotter-than-average summer and a colder-than-average winter in 2018-19.
The Greening Government Fund, funded 13 projects in 2019-2020. The Fund promotes innovative approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and provides funding for projects in departments and agencies to reduce greenhouse gases in their operations. The next round of project funding will be announced in April 2020.
In addition to the focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the Greening Government Strategy includes commitments related to water consumption, waste, including new commitments on better managing the use and disposal of plastics, green procurement and resilience to the impacts of climate change.
In 2018, the Government announced new commitments to divert at least 75% of plastic waste generated by federal operations by 2030 by reducing unnecessary use of single-use plastics, increasing the reuse and recycling of plastic in government operations, buying more products made from recycled plastics, and reducing packaging waste.

KEY FACTS • As of December 2019, departments have reduced emissions by 32% below 2005 levels. These reductions have come from Government of Canada facilities and its fleet.