Progress Report on the 2019 to 2022 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy - Executive summary

Progress report for the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy / Sustainable Development Office, Environment Canada.: En1-46E-PDF

Making Progress on Canada’s Federal Sustainable Development Strategy Goals

The 2019 to 2022 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy includes 13 aspirational goals supported by measurable targets and clear action plans. All of the goals are aimed at realizing the vision that Canada is one of the greenest countries in the world and that our quality of life will continue to improve.

Forty-three departments and agencies across the government are involved in delivering the Strategy. Together, these organizations are taking joint federal action to implement sustainable development in Canada. They often work in close partnership with Indigenous governments and peoples, provinces, territories, and municipalities.

The 13 goals support a vision for sustainable development in Canada that acknowledges its unique responsibilities and circumstances.

To consult the report: 2021 Progress Report of the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy.

The Purpose of this Progress Report

This report shows how the Government of Canada has been doing in the three years since the last Progress Report was tabled in 2018, and almost two and a half years since the 2019-2022 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy was tabled in Parliament.

The Report shows where there is progress toward our goals and targets, and it shows where more work is required. These results inform the actions that the Government of Canada is taking now and will help to shape the 2022-2026 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy.

For each of the 13 goals, this report sets out:

the federal ministers responsible for targets and federal organizations that contribute to implementing the goal
results for targets and milestones, as well as key trends in the data
an indication of progress to date, assessed at the level of individual targets
why the goal is important
supplemental information that helps the reader understand the context of the goals or targets
risks, challenges, and additional required steps required to meeting the goals or targets, and
linkages with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and other international agreements and initiatives.

The current federal strategy is Canada’s fourth such document, and the current progress report is Canada’s fifth. It reflects 12 years of goals, targets, and progress toward environmental sustainable development with a core principle of continuous improvement.

Assessment of Progress on Medium-Term Targets in the 2019 to 2022 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy

Goal	Target	Progress
Effective Action on Climate Change	Reduce Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030, relative to 2005 emission levels	Attention required
Effective Action on Climate Change	Increase zero-emission, light-duty vehicle sales to 10% by 2025, 30% by 2030, and 100% by 2040	Underway
Greening Government	Reduce federal government greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030	Underway
	Divert at least 75% of non-hazardous operational waste from landfills by 2030	No new data
	Divert at least 90% of all construction and demolition waste from landfills	No new data
	Achieve 75% carbon neutrality in federal office lease transactions where market conditions permit and a competitive environment exists	No new data
	Achieve 80% zero-emission vehicles within the federal administrative fleet by 2030	Underway
	Develop departmental measures to reduce climate change risks to asset services and operations by 2022	No new data
	Use 100% clean electricity within the federal government by 2025	Underway
Clean Growth	Implement our Mission Innovation commitment to double federal government investments in clean energy, research, development and demonstration by 2020	Achieved
Clean Growth	Increase the value of Canada’s clean technology exports to $15.6 billion by 2025	Attention required
Modern and Resilient Infrastructure	Invest $26.9 billion in funding for green infrastructure initiatives by March 31, 2028	Underway
Clean Energy	Generate 90% by 2030 and, in the long term, 100% of Canada’s electricity from renewable and non-emitting sources	Underway
Clean Energy	Achieve 600 petajoules of total annual energy savings by adopting energy efficiency codes, standards, and practices, from a baseline savings of 20.0 petajoules by 2030	Underway
Healthy Coasts and Oceans	Conserve 10% of coastal and marine areas through networks of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures by 2020	Achieved
Healthy Coasts and Oceans	By 2020, all major fish and invertebrate stocks are managed and harvested at levels considered to be sustainable, from a baseline of 96% harvested within established ecosystem limits in 2016	Attention required
Pristine Lakes and Rivers	Reduce phosphorus loading into Lake Erie by 40% to achieve the binational (Canada-US) phosphorus targets from a 2008 baseline	Attention required
Pristine Lakes and Rivers	Reduce nutrient loadings into the Lake Winnipeg Basin in support of Manitoba’s plan to reduce phosphorus in Lake Winnipeg by 50% to pre-1990 levels by 2022	Underway
Sustainably Managed Lands and Forests	Conserve at least 17% of terrestrial areas and inland water through networks of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures by 2020	Attention required
	By March 31, 2023, ecological integrity will be maintained or improved in 92% of national park ecosystems	Underway
	Maintain Canada’s annual timber harvest at or below sustainable wood supply levels between 2019 and 2022	Underway
Healthy Wildlife Populations	Ensure species that are secure remain secure, and populations of species at risk listed under federal law exhibit trends that are consistent with recovery strategies and management plans by 2020	Attention required
Healthy Wildlife Populations	Increase the percentage of managed migratory bird species whose population sizes fall within an acceptable range from a baseline of 57% in 2013 by 2025	Attention required
Clean Drinking Water	Resolve all long-term drinking water advisories on public systems on reserve by March 31, 2021	Attention required
Sustainable Food	Improve environmental performance of the agriculture sector by achieving a score of 71 or higher on the Index of Agri-Environmental Sustainability by 2030	No new data
	Achieve 90% compliance with Fisheries Act regulations related to aquaculture	Underway
	Grow Canada’s agri-food exports to $75 billion per year by 2025	Underway
Connecting Canadians with Nature	Increase or maintain the number of Canadians that visit parks and green spaces—and increase participation in biodiversity conservation activities relative to a 2010 baseline by 2020	Achieved
Safe and Healthy Communities	Increase the percentage of Canadians living in areas where air quality standards are achieved from 70% in 2015 to 85% in 2030	Underway
	Decrease emissions of fine particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides and volatile organic compounds from all sources from 1990 levels	Underway
	Take risk management actions in a timely manner for all substances found to be a risk to the environment or human health by 2022	Underway

Other Sources of Relevant Information

This progress report complements other sources of information on federal actions and results. These include:

the Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators program
GC InfoBase, the authoritative source of government expenditure information and indicator results
2020 to 2023 Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy reporting, which includes reporting on contributing actions in the 2019 to 2022 FSDS
Departmental Results Reports, which include reporting on sustainable development commitments, and
indicators published through governmental reports that include program-level information about sustainable development commitments

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2025-10-06

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