2023 to 2024 Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy Report
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His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of the Treasury Board, 2024
Catalogue No.: SC100-17E-PDF
ISSN: 2818-6540
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Cover photo: Environment and Climate Change Canada
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Table of Contents
Introduction to the 2023 to 2024 Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy Report
The 2022 to 2026 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS) presents the Government of Canada's sustainable development goals and targets, as required by the Federal Sustainable Development Act. This is the first FSDS to be framed using the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda and provides a balanced view of the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable development.
In keeping with the purpose of the Act, to make decision–making related to sustainable development more transparent and accountable to Parliament, the Canada School of Public Service (the School) supports the goals laid out in the FSDS through the activities described in the School's 2023 to 2027 Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy (DSDS). This Report provides a report on progress related to the School's DSDS in the fiscal year 2023 to 2024.
The Federal Sustainable Development Act also sets out 7 principles that must be considered in the development of the FSDS as well as DSDSs. These basic principles have been considered and incorporated in the School's DSDS and 2023 to 2024 DSDS Report.
To promote coordinated action on sustainable development across the Government of Canada, the School's departmental strategy reports on Canada's progress towards implementing the 2030 Agenda and advancing the SDGs, supported by the Global Indicator Framework (GIF) and Canadian Indicator Framework (CIF) targets and indicators. The Report also now captures progress on SDG initiatives that fall outside the scope of the FSDS.
Commitments for the Canada School of Public Service
Goal 4:
Promote knowledge and skills for sustainable development
FSDS Context:
The School has a legislative mandate to provide a range of learning activities to build individual and organizational capacity and management excellence within the federal public service.
As a corporate training and development institution for the federal public service, the School collaborates across the public service, and with Indigenous Peoples, academia, policy centres, international organizations and communities, functional communities, horizontal organizations and other stakeholders to enhance curriculum development, which includes incorporating sustainable development elements into key learning products.
Target: By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education on sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles.
| Implementation strategy |
Departmental action |
Performance Indicator
Starting Point
Target |
How the departmental action contributes to the FSDS goal and target and, where applicable, to Canada's 2030 Agenda National Strategy and SDGs |
Results Achieved |
| Work with partners on sustainable development research initiatives |
Raise awareness and support learning about sustainable development among federal employees.
Program: Learning
|
Performance indicator: N/A
Starting point: In 2023, the School is offering the following courses and events:
Target: N/A
|
Relevant targets or ambitions: By 2027, the School will have explored and/or incorporated sustainable development elements into key learning products, particularly in the functional areas of procurement, materiel, and real property management, as part of planned updates.
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In 2023‒24, the School collaborated across the public service and with various stakeholders to raise awareness and support learning about sustainable development among federal public servants.
The School offered courses on sustainable procurement and real property management on its learning platform:
The School hosted two courses delivered and maintained by Environment and Climate Change Canada:
The Executive Leadership Development Program for ADM-level participants included sessions on transitioning to a sustainable economy and inequality and sustainable development.
|
Goal 7:
Increase Canadians' access to clean energy
FSDS Context:
The School aims to leverage technology to optimize its resources and reduce energy consumption. By using technologies strategically and adopting new practices, the School works towards reducing its environmental impact while improving operational efficiency.
Target: By 2030, increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix
| Implementation strategy |
Departmental action |
Performance Indicator
Starting Point
Target |
How the departmental action contributes to the FSDS goal and target and, where applicable, to Canada's 2030 Agenda National Strategy and SDGs |
Results Achieved |
| Support voluntary action to adopt clean energy technologies |
Seek opportunities to adopt new practices, including a current proposal to ensure that IT-based capital projects are assessed for positive environmental impact.
Program: Internal Services
|
Performance indicator: N/A
Starting point: Currently, 100% of the School's laptops and tablets are Energy Star rated. Energy Star-certified computers use 25–40% less energy, on average, than standard models.
A phased workload migration project is currently in motion to migrate all on-premise (physical labs) applications to the cloud, to further reduce the School's environmental footprint.
The School is exploring how to reduce energy and power consumption by leveraging intelligent automation (e.g., shutting down servers currently not in use).
Through the School's evergreening process, devices are inspected to see if they are in good working condition. Computers that no longer meet work demands are donated for a second life. If requirements are not met for donation, devices are sent to e-waste for recycling.
Target: N/A
|
Relevant targets or ambitions: No e-waste is generated by the School that requires landfilling.
|
In 2023‒24, the School focused on encouraging green procurement, adopting cloud solutions, minimizing e-waste, and reducing energy and power consumption.
Encourage green procurement: The procurement of Energy Star-certified laptops and tablets demonstrates a commitment to green procurement. By selecting energy-efficient devices, the organization is ensuring that sustainability factors into purchasing decisions for IT equipment.
Adopt cloud solutions: The School continued to phase migration of on-premise applications to the cloud. Moving to cloud solutions, which are often more energy efficient than physical infrastructure, reduces the environmental footprint and cuts down on the energy required to maintain in-house data centres. This shift leads to reduced cooling needs, power consumption, and physical space usage.
Minimize e-waste: In addition to Energy Star-certified devices, the adoption of cloud-based business solutions is a key contributor to reducing e-waste. By migrating applications and services to the cloud, the School minimizes its need for frequent hardware upgrades and replacements, as cloud providers maintain and optimize the underlying infrastructure. This reduces the demand for physical hardware at the School, directly lowering the amount of IT equipment that would eventually become e-waste. Outdated equipment is also recycled responsibly, further mitigating environmental impact.
Reduce energy and power consumption: With 100% of laptops and tablets being Energy Star rated, the School has already reduced energy use by 25–40% compared to standard devices. This shift has led to significant annual energy savings across the entire fleet of devices.
The School is actively leveraging intelligent automation to reduce energy and power consumption. By implementing solutions that automatically shut down servers not in use and automating business processes, the School optimizes energy usage. This approach reduces unnecessary power consumption in IT infrastructure and streamlines operations, contributing to overall sustainability goals while lowering operational costs.
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Goal 10:
Advance reconciliation with indigenous peoples and take action on inequality
FSDS Context:
Climate change affects everyone, but there is a disproportionate impact on marginalized and at-risk groups and Indigenous Peoples, who experience disruption to their traditional ways of life. Canada's commitment to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples highlights the importance of working with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities and affirms Indigenous rights to conserve and protect their lands and environment. Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples is crucial to addressing inequalities and achieving equality, and all public service employees have an important role to play in reconciliation.
To foster a culture of reconciliation, the School offers a growing array of courses, events and resources that help increase awareness of the history, cultures, and realities of First Nations, Inuit and Métis in Canada. This includes helping public service employees to understand their roles and obligations with regard to the UN Declaration Act, and the need for meaningful participation of Indigenous Peoples in all points of decisions that affect them, their communities and territories, including land and resource management.
Target: By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion, or economic or other status.
| Implementation strategy |
Departmental action |
Performance Indicator
Starting Point
Target |
How the departmental action contributes to the FSDS goal and target and, where applicable, to Canada's 2030 Agenda National Strategy and SDGs |
Results Achieved |
| Implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. |
Raise awareness and support learning about sustainable development among federal employees, with a specific focus on reconciliation and inequality.
Program: Learning
|
Performance indicator: N/A
Starting point: In 2023, the School is offering the following courses and events:
- The Executive Leadership Development Program (ELDP) for ADM-level participants includes sessions on transitioning to a sustainable economy, and inequality and sustainable development (including content on the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals).
- The Climate Change and Human Migration Series showcases recent public administration research, with a focus on Indigenous communities.
Target: N/A
|
Relevant targets or ambitions: By 2027, the School will have incorporated more sustainable development elements into its learning products.
|
The School offered learning products to raise awareness and support learning about sustainable development among federal employees, with a specific focus on reconciliation and inequality.
In 2023‒24, the School presented several events related to advancing reconciliation:
- Four events with four Indigenous partners as part of its Climate Change and Human Migration Series. This series was a success, with over 4,600 registrations and an overall rating of 8.73 on a scale of 1 to 10.
- On June 12, 2023, in collaboration with Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada: Relationships, Engagement and Consultation: Essentials for Reconciliation, with 2,003 connections.
- On July 5, 2023, in collaboration with Natural Resources Canada: Amplifying Indigenous Voices to Advance Reconciliation, with 513 connections.
- On September 29, 2023, in collaboration with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation 2023: Addressing Residential School Denialism and Embodying Reconciliation.
- On October 17, 2023, in collaboration with Justice Canada: Achieving the Objectives of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, with 1,829 connections.
- In addition to the continued offering of Indigenous Considerations in Procurement (COR409), the School coordinated an event on October 19, 2023, to showcase innovative approaches to advancing Indigenous participation in federal procurement. The event, Collaboration and Innovation: Advancing Indigenous Participation in Federal Procurement, raised awareness on the importance of increasing participation of Indigenous communities and businesses in procurement processes, therefore contributing to the sustainable development objective of advancing reconciliation with Indigenous communities and reducing inequalities.
- On December 11, 2023, in collaboration with the National Research Council Canada: How to Create Meaningful Partnerships with Indigenous Communities, with 1,320 connections.
- On March 13, 2023, in collaboration with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami: Implementing the Inuit Nunangat Policy: Improving Outcomes for Inuit.
Through the Indigenous Learning curriculum, the School delivered:
- 6 online self-paced courses: 79,754 completions.
- 6 virtual classroom courses: 2,123 completions.
- 2 in-person courses: 263 completions.
- 1 mobile app, 14 job aids, 38 videos, and 7 audio episodes: 56,523 unique page views.
The School launched multiple courses that support human-centred and inclusive design practices for policy and service development, including a comprehensive design process series. For example:
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Goal 12:
Reduce waste and transition to zero–emission vehicles
FSDS Context:
The School considers environmental impacts in the design and delivery of learning products and events. With respect to the delivery of its learning products, the School focuses on user experience and high-quality content, including a growing suite of virtual, on-demand offerings to better serve public service employees. Complementary to this vision, it continues to invest in new tools and a highly qualified workforce to support a quickly changing workplace environment and to enable a hybrid workforce. The School aims to leverage technology to optimize its resources, reduce energy consumption, and minimize travel, contributing to a more sustainable future.
Target: Promote public procurement practices that are sustainable, in accordance with national policies and priorities.
| Implementation strategy |
Departmental action |
Performance Indicator
Starting Point
Target |
How the departmental action contributes to the FSDS goal and target and, where applicable, to Canada's 2030 Agenda National Strategy and SDGs |
Results Achieved |
| Other |
Reduction in transportation use by both learners and instructors.
Program: Learning
|
Performance indicator: N/A
Starting point: Based on Uber transportation data, 2,303 local trips were taken in fiscal year (FY) 2020, for a total distance travelled of 10,658 km. Due to the pandemic and the requirement for employees to telework, there were no local trips taken in FY 2021. Although an increase in local trips is anticipated as employees gradually return to the workplace, it should not reach FY 2020 levels as the School continues to promote online learning.
Target: N/A
|
Relevant targets or ambitions: Reduce taxi and ride-sharing trips by over 75% compared to FY 2020 levels.
|
In 2023‒24, the School leveraged technology to optimize its resources, reduce energy consumption, and minimize travel. The number of trips and total distance travelled remained significantly lower than pre-pandemic levels. The School's ongoing efforts to offer a growing suite of virtual offerings contributed to a decrease in the need for local travel.
In 2023‒24, a total of 192 local trips were taken, covering a distance of 853.89 km, representing a reduction of close to 92% in the number of local trips and distance travelled compared to fiscal year 2019‒20 levels, thus exceeding the target of reducing such trips by 75%. This demonstrates the School's strong commitment to sustainability and reducing its environmental impact through minimized travel requirements.
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Goal 13:
Take action on climate change and its impacts
FSDS Context:
The School has implemented a sustainable development approach by prioritizing a digital-first strategy in managing its operations. This approach guides its internal actions and commitments, and the development and delivery of learning products. It has also significantly influenced the integration of sustainable practices across the organization.
Target: The Government of Canada will transition to net–zero carbon operations for facilities and conventional fleets by 2050
| Implementation strategy |
Departmental action |
Performance Indicator
Starting Point
Target |
How the departmental action contributes to the FSDS goal and target and, where applicable, to Canada's 2030 Agenda National Strategy and SDGs |
Results Achieved |
| Other |
Establish a modern and efficient workplace.
Program: Internal Services, Learning
|
Performance indicator: Reduce the School's real estate footprint.
Starting point: The School has reduced its workplace footprint from 29,000 m2 to 10,500 m2, spread across two buildings in the NCR.
Target: The School will expand the modernization and implementation of an efficient workplace within its regional offices and reduce its footprint by 65% by 2024.
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Relevant targets or ambitions: The School will expand the modernization and implementation of an efficient workplace within its regional offices and reduce its footprint by 65% by 2024.
|
As part of its unwavering commitment to sustainability, the School has successfully achieved a substantial reduction in its footprint across Canada for the 2023‒24 period. The School has relinquished spaces in Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, and the National Capital Region, culminating in a portfolio reduction of 53%, or 9,340 m² out of an initial 17,500 m². Additionally, ongoing discussions with Public Services and Procurement Canada regarding the release of further office space in Alberta (322 m²) are poised to amplify the School's efforts to further diminish its environmental footprint and advance the strategy's objectives.
Since the beginning of 2023, the School has made significant strides in modernizing and creating efficient workplace environments in its regional offices throughout Canada. It has completed workspace enhancements in accordance with GCworkplace standards in Moncton, Québec City, Montréal, Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria, and the National Capital Region. To date, 90% of the School's locations have undergone modernization since March 2023, underscoring the School's steadfast commitment to enhancing its workplace environments.
These comprehensive upgrades have been designed to provide more modern, ergonomic, and collaborative workspaces. In support of this endeavour, the School has distributed ergonomic equipment to its locations nationwide, ensuring that each region is equipped with resources that significantly enhance work efficiency.
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| Other |
The School will use environmental criteria to reduce its environmental impact and ensure best value in government procurement decisions.
Program: Internal Services
|
Performance indicator: N/A
Starting point: Manage print services, reduce the number of printers per employee and encourage a transition toward paperless workflow, thereby reducing paper consumption. In 2020, the School undertook a print management project that reduced its total number of printers from 106 to under 12 across the organization.
Target: N/A
|
Reduce on-site printing by 90% over fiscal year 2019 levels.
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The modernization and implementation of an efficient workplace included the integration of technology that supports a greener environment by reducing the use of paper and printers. As a result, the School is now operating with only one printer per building. By transitioning to digital processes and promoting paperless workflows, the School is minimizing its environmental impact while enhancing operational efficiency.
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Integrating Sustainable Development
The School will continue to ensure that its decision-making process includes consideration of FSDS goals and targets through its Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) process. An SEA for a policy, plan or program proposal includes an analysis of the impacts of the given proposal on the environment, including on relevant FSDS goals and targets.
Public statements on the results of the School's assessments are made public when an initiative has undergone a detailed SEA. The purpose of the public statement is to demonstrate that the environmental effects, including the impacts on achieving the FSDS goals and targets, of the approved policy, plan or program have been considered during proposal development and decision making.
The School did not complete any detailed SEAs in 2023-24.
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