2024 to 2025 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, 2025
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 2024 to 2025 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 2024 to 2025.
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 2024 to 2025 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 for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture's contribution to sustainable development.
| 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: The School is offering courses and events on the following topics:
- Sustainable strategies for federal real property
- Optimizing energy performance
- Green procurement
- Indigenous considerations in procurement
- 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).
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.
|
In 2024‒25, the School collaborated across the public service and with various stakeholders to raise awareness and support learning about sustainable development among federal public service employees.
The School offered courses on sustainable development on its learning platform, including:
The School hosted a suite of three climate literacy courses created and maintained by Environment and Climate Change Canada:
The School integrated sustainable development into its development programs.
- The Executive Leadership Development Program for ADM-level participants featured sessions on climate change impacts, adaptation and mitigation, and economic transition toward sustainability.
- The Executive Leadership Development Program for Black leaders and Assistant Deputy Ministers conducted sessions on polycrisis, focusing on the interconnections among climate change, sustainability, and equity.
- The Cercle des jeunes leaders fédéral-provincial program, delivered in partnership between the School and the École nationale d'administration publique (Quebec), organized a session where federal and provincial executive participants discussed issues related to climate change and renewable energy, and fostered collaborative partnerships across jurisdictions.
The School hosted events on sustainable development, including:
- On January 20, 2025: Navigating Change: Emerging Technologies and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Frameworks in Internal Auditing. This event for internal auditors offered offer practical insights on how to apply ESG factors to emerging technologies that have the potential to transform internal auditing practices.
- On May 6, 2025: GBA Plus in Action: Respect, Relationships, and Intersectional Leadership in Gwaii Haanas. This insightful event explored the globally unique and studied cooperative relationship behind the protection and planning at Gwaii Haanas, and the Haida laws and values that align closely with the enhanced GBA Plus process.
The School's Leadership Learning Path, which offers a self-directed learning journey for public service employees at all levels, featured climate change as a priority topic. This included four online courses on environmental and climate change as supplemental resources.
The School revised its Policy Analyst Learning Map, an interactive tool that outlines learning products and useful resources for policy analysts, to include content related to climate change.
|
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 2024‒25, 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 of 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 compared to standard devices. The School is also 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, energy usage is optimized.
|
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: The School is offering the following courses and events:
- The School has an Indigenous Learning curriculum that aims to advance reconciliation and educate public servants about the link between their role and the importance of having meaningful engagement with Indigenous Peoples. Any learning in this area can positively impact the connection to sustainable development. The curriculum includes a mobile app, six online courses on the history, perspectives and realities of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis, four virtual instructor-led courses for all public servants that serve to deepen understanding beyond the foundational level, three courses for executives, the KAIROS Blanket Exercise, thirteen job aids, thirty-eight videos, and at least ten events related to Indigenous learning.
- 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 content aimed to 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 into its learning products.
|
The School offered learning products to raise awareness and support learning about sustainable development among federal public service employees, with a specific focus on reconciliation and inequality. The Indigenous Learning curriculum received 102,358 registrations.
New products introduced in 2024‒25 included:
The following learning products continued to be offered in 2024‒25:
The School presented several events related to advancing reconciliation, reaching over 17,655 viewers:
- On April 19, 2024: Being an Ally to Indigenous Peoples
- On May 3, 2024: Recognizing the Resilience of Indigenous Women and 2SLGBTQIA+ Community
- From May 21 to 24, 2024, in collaboration with Elder Verna McGregor: Indigenous Awareness week - Opening Ceremony and Teachings
- On June 6, 2024: Conversation on Mental Health Resilience in the face of Climate Change. The speakers discussed the psychological effects of climate change on Canadians, strategies to build resilience, manage eco-anxiety, and strengthen community connections. The event also examined Indigenous perspectives with Retired Chief Patrick Michell. A video of the session has been available since October 22, 2024.
- On June 21, 2024: Indigenous Languages: Canada's Hidden Treasures
- On September 18, 2024: Raising the Residential School Survivors' Flag at LaSalle Academy
- On September 27, 2024, in partnership with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
- On November 15, 2024: Reflections on the 2004 Haida Nation Rights Decision on the Crown's Duty to Consult
- On December 20, 2024: The Repercussions of False Indigenous Identity Claims
- On January 15, 2025, with DM Gina Wilson and Jean Teillet LLP, leading Métis lawyer on Indigenous identity and false claims: A Day in the Life of a First Nations Band Administrator
|
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.
|
The School continued to minimize the environmental impact of its operations by leveraging virtual tools and limiting travel requirements. In 2024–25, a total of 370 local trips were taken, covering 616.06 km. While this represents a modest increase compared to 2023–24, the number of trips and distance travelled remain significantly below pre‑pandemic levels. By maintaining lower travel volumes, the School demonstrates its commitment to sustainable practices and the transition to a low-carbon future.
Furthermore, the School continued to maximize hybrid learning to reduce energy consumption and minimize travel requirements for faculty and learners.
|
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.
|
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.
|
Through collaboration with Public Services and Procurement Canada, the School has continued to reduce its infrastructure footprint across Canada. Facilities in Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, and the National Capital Region were vacated, resulting in a building portfolio decrease of 53%, and a reduction of 9,340 m² from an initial total of 17,500 m². Additionally, 320 m² of office space in Calgary was transferred to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRBC). Lastly, storage space in the National Capital Region was reduced‒from 1,800 m² to 600 m²‒a 67% decrease achieved through furniture removal and e‑waste disposal, further decreasing the overall infrastructure footprint.
|
| 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.
|
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 now uses fewer printers. By transitioning to digital processes and promoting paperless workflows, the School is minimizing its environmental impact while enhancing operational efficiency.
|
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 and Economic Assessment (SEEA) process. A SEEA for a policy, program or regulatory proposal includes an analysis of the climate, nature, environmental and economic effects of the given proposal.
Public statements on the results of the School’s assessments are issued when an initiative that was the subject of a detailed Strategic Environmental and Economic Assessment is implemented or announced. The purpose of the public statement is to demonstrate that the environmental and economic effects, including contributions to the FSDS goals and targets, of an initiative have been considered during proposal development and decision making.
The School did not have any proposals subject to a detailed SEEA that were announced or implemented in 2024‒25.
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