2023 Reports 1 to 5 of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development to the Parliament of CanadaFederal government does not know the extent to which greenhouse gas regulations are reducing emissions
Ottawa, 20 April 2023—A report released today by Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development Jerry V. DeMarco concluded that Environment and Climate Change Canada did not know the extent to which selected greenhouse gas regulations contributed to Canada’s overall emission reduction target. This was because the department’s approach to measuring emissions did not attribute emission results to specific regulations.
The audit found that Environment and Climate Change Canada used modelling approaches to estimate greenhouse gas emission reductions, but the department did not measure or report on the contributions of each regulation toward Canada’s 2030 target.
The audit found mixed results with respect to the impact of specific regulations on emissions. The regulations aimed at reducing emissions from power generation achieved their targets, but some of the regulations that aimed to reduce emissions from vehicles did not. Although greenhouse gas emissions from passenger cars decreased, this was offset by even larger increases in emissions for light trucks and heavy-duty vehicles, such as school and transit buses and freight, delivery, garbage, and dump trucks.
“Regulations are an important element of achieving Canada’s emission reduction target,” said Mr. DeMarco. “However, without comprehensive impact information, the federal government does not know whether it is using the right tools to sufficiently reduce emissions to meet its target.”
The audit also found that the department took too long to develop regulations given the urgency of the climate crisis. The department took more than 5 years to develop the Clean Fuel Regulations—twice as long as planned. In addition, the department did not know whether regulations to limit methane emissions were achieving their objective. The audit found that large sources of methane emissions were unaccounted for in inventories and not covered by any existing regulations. This increases the uncertainty about the quantity and significance of the reductions being achieved.
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The 2023 Reports of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Report 5—Emission Reductions Through Greenhouse Gas Regulations—Environment and Climate Change Canada, is available on the Office of the Auditor General of Canada website.
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