REGINA — The commissioner of environment and sustainable development in the federal auditor’s office says Agriculture Canada has not yet developed a climate change mitigation strategy.
There are only six growing seasons left to reach 2030 targets and the commissioner’s report says it is still unclear how the department will help farmers meet the goals.
The department was tasked in 2015 to act on climate change, and in 2020 it was called on to develop a strategy for the agriculture sector.
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In 2021 the department launched three programs intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“The department’s delays in funding approvals resulted in recipients missing a growing season, which limited the greenhouse gas reduction results achieved by January 2024,” said a report summary.
“In addition, two of the three programs had not yet set or finalized all of their performance targets for climate change mitigation.”
The report recommends the department finalize and implement a sustainable agriculture strategy to help meet targets that include fertilizer and methane emission reduction commitments.
It also said it should implement a results monitoring framework “to enable the accurate, timely and transparent assessment of results and the ability to roll up greenhouse gas emission reduction data across its projects and programs.”
More to come.
Contact karen.briere@producer.com
