2018–2019 Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy
1. Context for the Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy
The 2016–2019 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS):
- sets out the Government of Canada’s sustainable development priorities
- establishes goals and targets
- identifies actions to achieve them, as required by the Federal Sustainable Development Act.
In keeping with the objectives of the Act to make environmental decision-making more transparent and accountable to Parliament, the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada (OIC) supports reporting on the implementation of the FSDS and its Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy, or equivalent document, through the activities described in this supplementary information table.
2. Sustainable development at the OIC
The OIC’s Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy for 2017 to 2020 describes the organization’s actions in support of achieving a low-carbon government. This supplementary information table presents available results for the departmental actions pertinent to this goal. Last year’s supplementary information table is posted on the OIC’s website.
3. Departmental performance by FSDS goal
The following table provides performance information on departmental actions in support of the FSDS goal listed in section 2.
FSDS goal: low-carbon government
| FSDS target(s) | FSDS contributing action(s) | Corresponding departmental action(s) | Support for United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UN SDG) target | Starting point(s), target(s) and performance indicator(s) for departmental actions | Results achieved |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Reduce greenhouse gas emissions from federal government buildings and fleets by 40% below 2005 levels by 2030, with an aspiration to achieve it by 2025 |
Support the transition to a low-carbon economy through green procurement |
Ensure key officials include contribution to and support for the Government of Canada Policy on Green Procurement objectives in their performance evaluations Ensure decisions makers have the necessary training and awareness to support green procurement Integrate environmental considerations into procurement management processes and controls |
Number and percentage of managers and functional heads of procurement and materiel whose performance evaluation includes support and contribution towards green procurement in the current fiscal year Percentage of specialists in procurement and materiel management who have completed training on green procurement Volume of toner cartridges recycled relative to the total volume of all toner cartridges purchased in the year in question. Ratio of copy paper that contains a minimum of 30% recycled content relative to the total dollar value or volume of all copy paper, commercial printing and/or envelope purchases in the year in question. Percentage of IT purchases that include criteria or clauses which reduce the environmental impact of the product or service being purchased. |
2 (100%)
100%
100%
100%
100%
|
4. Report on integrating sustainable development
The OIC continued to ensure that its decision-making process included consideration of FSDS goals and targets by promoting eco-friendly practices.
Support the transition to a low-carbon economy through green procurement
The OIC supports clean technologies and green products and services by taking environmental considerations into account in purchasing decisions. The OIC’s approach is to continue leveraging instruments established by Public Services and Procurement Canada designed to meet federal government green procurement standards.
Promote sustainable travel practices
The OIC promotes sustainable practices for employee travel—including business travel and commuting to work—such as teleconferencing, telecommuting, carpooling, and the use of hybrid and electric vehicles, and public transportation. When feasible, the OIC encourages the selection of offsetting options to reduce the impact of government travel. For example, the OIC uses video conferencing as an alternative to travel to reduce its carbon footprint.
Workplace 2.0
The OIC operates in a Workplace 2.0 environment. Workplace 2.0 allows for much smaller work areas with a more open and bright workspace by constructing fewer walls and locating offices and meeting rooms along the core—away from perimeter windows. As a result, the space has better natural light and air circulation for all occupants. In turn, this reduces the workload on the buildings’ heating/ventilation/air conditioning system.
Reduce, reuse and recycle
The OIC sets its multi-function devices’ to double-sided and black and white printing as the default. Purchased paper and toners contain recycled materials. Empty toner cartridges are also recycled. Currently, old computers are sent to Computers for Schools, while other surplus items are sent to GC Surplus.
Promote responsible disposal
The OIC continues to ensure that surplus electronic and electrical waste (e.g. batteries, networking equipment and electrical wiring) are handled in an environmentally appropriate manner.
All employees have recycle bins at their workstations and a recycling centre is located in the main kitchen.
During the 2018–19 reporting cycle, the OIC had no proposals that required a Strategic Environmental Assessment and no public statements were produced.