2024-25 Departmental Results Report – Response to parliamentary committees and external audits

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Response to parliamentary committees

There were no responses to reports from parliamentary committees tabled in 2024–25.

Response to audits conducted by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (including audits conducted by the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development)

Report 2 – Greening of Building Materials in Public Infrastructure

This audit focused on whether Public Services and Procurement Canada, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, and Natural Resources Canada had used the Government of Canada’s purchasing power effectively to support and prioritize the use of low embodied carbon construction materials, including steel, aluminum, and concrete, in public infrastructure projects in order to contribute to environmental protection and sustainable development. It also focused on determining whether Infrastructure Canada made effective use of its funding programs in pursuit of that goal.

This audit is important because it is estimated that the greenhouse gas emissions from construction and construction materials account for 11% of Canada’s total emissions. With the amounts it spends on public infrastructure, the federal government is able to demonstrate the environmental leadership to which Canada aspires, fulfill its commitment to reducing the emissions from its operations, and help industry reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, thereby contributing to the achievement of Canada’s 2030 climate goals and its 2050 goal of net zero emissions.

Recommendation 2.62

To support government‑wide efforts to speed up the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and make progress by 2030 on Goal 9 of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and the objectives set out in the 2022–2026 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy, Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada should incorporate embodied carbon reduction considerations into the widest possible range of its funding programs.

Departmental response

Agreed. Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada has included embodied carbon disclosure and reduction considerations in select programs and will continue to expand consideration of embodied carbon in its infrastructure projects through its future infrastructure funding programs. ln keeping with best practices, the department will test embodied carbon requirements in some programs while validating the market availability and cost of these products and the robustness of the supporting data (namely, environmental product declarations) to ensure the application of embodied carbon reduction requirements is reasonable.

Response to audits conducted by the Public Service Commission of Canada or the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages

There were no audits in 2024–25 requiring a response.