2022 Reports 1 to 5 of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development to the Parliament of CanadaWeakened criteria call into question value of government investments in climate-ready infrastructure
Ottawa, 26 April 2022—A report released today by the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development Jerry V. DeMarco concludes that Infrastructure Canada has not received complete or reliable information about the expected climate mitigation and resilience benefits of the projects it has funded. The department is planning to invest more than $12 billion in large public projects, including public transit, with a strong emphasis on climate change mitigation and lowered emissions.
“We found that Infrastructure Canada had designed and implemented a way to assess whether funded infrastructure projects could better withstand the effects of climate change, such as increasing floods and wildfires, and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Mr. DeMarco. “In the initial roll-out of the department’s Climate Lens assessment tool in 2018, those managing infrastructure projects were required to provide detailed estimates of their projects’ expected emission reductions.”
The audit found that when the Climate Lens tool was changed in 2021, project proponents were required to provide less detailed information than previously. This reduced the department’s ability to track and report on the funding programs’ contributions to the government’s climate-related objectives. The information deteriorated to the point that Infrastructure Canada was unable to accurately account for the expected climate mitigation and resilience benefits of the projects it funded.
The audit also found that Infrastructure Canada did not integrate Canada’s commitments to meeting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals into the design of its programs, and it was unable to report whether its programs were contributing to these goals. The department incorporated gender-based analysis plus in the design of its programs and collected related information from project proponents, but it did not consistently measure and report on outcomes.
“Without complete and reliable information on the expected benefits and outcomes of funded projects, the government will not be able to tell whether its investments contributed to less carbon-intensive and more resilient infrastructure, or to its commitments to enhance diversity and inclusion,” said Mr. DeMarco.
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The 2022 Reports of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Report 4—Funding Climate-Ready Infrastructure—Infrastructure Canada is available on the Office of the Auditor General of Canada website.
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