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

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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

Laws

Accountable

Reports

Audits FederalGovernment

Parliament

Commissioner of the Environment & Sustainable

Development

Office of the Auditor General

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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 categoryFunding recipient or intermediary

Amount disbursed by the Government of Canada(CAN$ millions)

Amount committed to final recipients (CAN$ millions) and percentage of amount disbursed

Repayable contributions to multilateral banks

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

Grants to other multilateral institutions and bilateral support

Various 309 n/a

Total 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