COMMISSIONER OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
TACKLING CLIMATE CHANGE AT HOME AND ABROAD –
FROM AN AUDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE
CCIC-CAIDP Annual Conference
Ottawa, Ontario
14 May 2015
Presentation outline
• Background on the Auditor General of Canada and the
Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable
Development
• Fall 2014 Report – Mitigating Climate Change
– Key risks
– Findings
• Since our audit
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Auditor General of Canada
• Independent Officer of Parliament (10 year term)
– Established in 1878; powers and responsibilities are set forth in the Auditor
General Act.
• Reports directly to Canada’s Parliament; audits federal
government departments and agencies
• Produces two annual reports
– Contain observations and recommendations
– Fact-based, objective
– Reports are public
– Report on management and implementation of policy, not merits of policy
• Also the auditor for Canada’s territorial governments:
Nunavut, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories
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Commissioner of the Environment and
Sustainable Development
• CESD established under the Auditor General Act
– Position created in 1995
– Appointed by the Auditor General of Canada (7 year term)
– Audits the performance of federal government programs
related to the environment and sustainable development
– Monitors implementation of Canada’s Federal Sustainable
Development Strategy and departmental sustainable
development strategies
– Manages the environmental petitions process
• Like the Auditor General, the CESD also reports directly to
Canada’s Parliament
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Relationship to Federal Government
Parliament
Office of the
Auditor General
Commissioner of the
Environment & Sustainable
Development
Audits
Federal
Government
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Latest report from the Commissioner –
October 2014
• Mitigating Climate Change
• Environmental Monitoring of Oil Sands
• Marine Navigation in the Canadian Arctic
• Implementation of the Canadian Environmental
Assessment Act, 2012
• Departmental Progress in Implementing Sustainable
Development Strategies
• Petitions
• Commissioner’s Perspective
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Mitigating Climate Change
We examined if the federal government:
• has put in place reduction measures for greenhouse gas emissions
that are consistent with good practices for regulatory development;
• has assessed the success of current measures;
• has mechanisms for working with the provinces and territories to
reduce emissions;
• has an implementation plan that describes how federal entities will
contribute to achieving the Copenhagen Accord target for 2020;
• has used sound methods for estimating and reporting Canada’s
future greenhouse gas emissions;
• is tracking, assessing, and reporting on Canada’s fast-start financing
and the results achieved.
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Evidence is stronger that 2020 target
will be missed
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Current federal measures will have little
effect on greenhouse gas emissions by 2020
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Need to develop an overall plan
to achieve targets
• Quantitative description of what contribution the
federal government will make to Canada’s 2020
target (and beyond).
• Detailed description of what measures it will take
and planned timelines.
• Regular reviews to assess progress.
• Regular reports to Parliament.
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Canada has contributed financially to climate
change action by developing countries
• Through “fast-start” financing initiative, Canada
provided $1.2 billion over three years (2010-2012)
• Most financing provided as repayable contributions
to multilateral banks (e.g. World Bank); remainder
as direct grants
• Most financing has still not reached final recipients
• As a consequence, cannot yet predict or assess
results in terms of reductions of emissions or value
for money
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By 30 May 2014, most fast-start financing funds
had not yet reached the projects to be funded
Funding category
Repayable
contributions to
multilateral banks
Grants to other
multilateral
institutions and
bilateral support
Total
Amount disbursed
Funding recipient or by the Government
intermediary
of Canada
(CAN$ millions)
Amount committed
to final recipients
(CAN$ millions) and
percentage of
amount disbursed
International Finance
Corporation
352
129 (37%)
Inter-American
Development Bank
250
22 (9%)
Asian Development
Bank
82
35 (43%)
Clean Technology
Fund, World Bank
200
n/a
Various
309
n/a
1,193
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Since our audit
• Domestic action:
– No additional regulatory action announced.
– National commitment for Paris COP not yet announced.
– Latest national inventory indicates that Canada’s emissions are
rising.
• Canada’s commitments to international climate
finance:
– On 20 November 2014, the Minister of Environment announced
$300 million (CAN) for the Green Climate Fund.
– It is unclear what the mix will be of loans and grants.
– As of 30 April 2015, the funds had not been provided.
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Thank you!
Web: http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca
Twitter:
@CESD_CEDD
@CEDD_CESD
YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/OAGBVG/videos
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