Office of Environmental Justice

The Green Budget Coalition recommends funding the establishment of a permanent, high-level Office of Environmental Justice, housed at ECCC, to:

  • Lead the development of a national strategy on environmental racism and environmental justice and support its implementation;
  • Work with ECCC’s enforcement branch to advance environmental justice through the enforcement of federal environmental laws in underserved communities;
  • Develop a publicly-accessible screening and mapping tool that overlays environmental, health and socio-demographic data; and
  • Develop collaborative partnerships and manage a new environmental justice community grants fund.

Total Recommended Investment:

$555 million over five years, and then $77 million per year, ongoing [ECCC]

Background, Rationale, and Details

Too often in Canada, racialized and disadvantaged communities bear a disproportionate burden from environmental degradation and preventable environmental health hazards, such as pollution and toxic substances in consumer products. Environmental injustice exacerbates climate change impacts and other inequities that these communities experience.

The Government of Canada needs to invest in institutional capacity, as well as research and community capacity building, to ensure that environmental protection programs, policies, investments and laws account for community and population-level inequities and advance environmental justice.

Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies. Fair treatment means no group of people should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, governmental and commercial operations or policies.

Source: U.S. EPA Office of Environmental Justice

A model exists in the United States. The EPA Office of Environmental Justice was established in the early 1990s. In 2021, President Biden established a White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council to “bring greater visibility to environmental justice issues across the Federal Government.”

We recommend Budget 2025 provide funding to establish a permanent and high-level Office of Environmental Justice in Canada, with the following focus areas.

1. National strategy
($125 million over five years, and then $25 million per year, ongoing)

The National Strategy Respecting Environmental Racism and Environmental Justice Act received Royal Assent on June 20, 2024. This new law requires the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to develop a strategy to advance environmental justice and assess, prevent and address environmental racism. The Minister must table the strategy in Parliament within two years, and report every five years on its implementation. The Green Budget Coalition notes that ECCC reallocated resources in 2022 to initiate work and prepare for consultations on the strategy.

Funding for the Office of Environmental Justice should include resources needed to continue community consultations, finalize the strategy and support its implementation on an ongoing basis. The Office should also support implementation of related environmental justice requirements in recent amendments to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (Bill S-5), and be consulted on program design to ensure that federal climate and nature programs will benefit communities that have historically been overburdened by environmental harm.

Resources must be sufficient to enable an approach that recognizes each community’s unique context and needs and distinguishes between Indigenous Nations and governments and other racialized and marginalized communities that do not hold inherent Indigenous rights and jurisdiction.

2. Environmental enforcement
($200 million over five years, and then $40 million per year, ongoing)

Uneven enforcement of environmental protection laws contributes to environmental racism and environmental injustice. Holding polluters accountable for violations that disproportionately impact Indigenous, BIPOC, and low-income communities is an environmental justice priority. However, these communities face multiple barriers in accessing justice.

In 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) announced a new comprehensive environmental justice enforcement strategy and established a dedicated Office of Environmental Justice. Its mission is to protect overburdened and underserved communities from the harm caused by environmental crimes, pollution, and climate change.

The Office of Environmental Justice in Canada should play a similar role. Additional resources are needed to enable ECCC’s enforcement branch to prioritize and enhance investigation, compliance and enforcement activities in communities most overburdened by environmental harm. Funds received from fines, court orders and voluntary payments as a result of enforcement action should be earmarked for projects that will benefit the affected community and advance environmental justice.

3. Screening and mapping tool
($30 million in 2025 to develop the tool, then $10 million per year, ongoing)

Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy 2019-2022 included a commitment to enhance collection of disaggregated data (i.e., data that can be broken down by meaningful categories of race and/or ethno-cultural origins). However, this information is missing from important environmental and environmental health databases and indicators, such as the National Pollutant Release Inventory, the Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators, Canadian Health Measures Survey, MIREC (Maternal-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals) and ambient air quality reporting.

The U.S. EPA Office of Environmental Justice developed “EJScreen,” an online mapping and screening tool that provides a nationally consistent dataset and approach for integrating environmental and sociodemographic indicators. We recommend ECCC consult on and develop a similar tool for Canada. It should include data on Indigeneity, racialization, income and other socio-demographic indicators. In addition to helping identify locations with potential environmental justice concerns and environmental health risks, this tool would enable ECCC to measure and track the effectiveness of the new strategy. Federal environmental databases and indicators should also be expanded to enable environmental justice analysis.

4. Collaborative partnerships and grants
($10 million over five years, and then $2 million per year, ongoing, to support collaborative partnerships; and $150 million over five years for community grants.)

The Office of Environmental Justice in Canada will be well-placed to play a convening role, bringing together relevant federal departments and agencies, leveraging external expertise, exploring collaboration with Indigenous and provincial/territorial governments, and engaging with communities. We also recommend a new environmental justice community grants fund to be managed by the Office of Environmental Justice. The fund could be used to enable community groups to hire technical experts, participate in consultative processes, and fund local solutions (among other needs).

This recommendation is endorsed by the Canadian Coalition for Environment and Climate Justice, the ENRICH Project, and the Black Environmental Initiative.

Sustainable jobs for workers and communities

The effects of climate change, global market shifts, affordability challenges, and the energy transition have caused increasingly visible impacts on Canada’s workforce and economy. Now that the Canadian Sustainable Jobs Act has become law, it is time for the government to follow through with actions – investments, programs, and policies – that support workers and communities to take on good green jobs. Canada has taken positive steps by implementing the Sustainable Jobs Training Fund; announcing consultations on the Youth Climate Corps program; and attaching labour conditions and minimum apprenticeship hours to new sustainable investment tax credits.

The scale of investment must match the scale of the challenge in order to adequately equip workers and communities with the tools they need to manage the transition. It is imperative that investments that advance sustainable job creation, nature-based solutions and clean economic growth are grounded in social dialogue with workers decarbonization objectives, reconciliation, and equity. Investments in Budget 2025 will be crucial for securing additional support from Canadians for climate and environmental action by highlighting clear benefits and job opportunities.

Total Recommended Investment:

At least $6.5 billion over five years

The Green Budget Coalition recommends the following measures with the expectation that they would be refined through social dialogue with workers, employers, and direct government-to-government engagement with Indigenous communities.

Recommendations:

1. Youth Training and Empowerment: Budget 2024 announced consultations to develop a Youth Climate Corps that could provide paid training and apprenticeships for youth pursuing careers in climate and nature related sectors. Budget 2025 should provide a 5-year funding commitment, with at least $1 billion in the first year, to establish the Youth Climate Corps and train 10,000-30,000 young people per year. Investment in the program in subsequent years should increase as demand grows, scaling up the program and affirming that no qualified applicant would be turned away. Polling has found that the majority of adults support a Youth Climate Corps, and 15% of people under 35 (representing roughly 1.3 million people) would be interested in enrolling in two years of training through this program. Canada can take inspiration from the successful American Climate Corps, which has proposed investing USD $8 billion over ten years to support 50,000 participants annually by 2031 in initiatives such as supporting public lands and waters, clean energy, urban areas, community resilience, food systems and capacity building. The program should ensure that the principles of decent work and inclusion are upheld, skills and experience gained lead to real career opportunities (e.g., jobs in the red seal trades), a living wage is provided, and opportunities are prioritized for Indigenous peoples, people of colour, people with disabilities, and others facing labour market barriers. Consultation on this program should include engagement of the Prime Minister’s Youth Council, and other relevant youth councils. [ESDC, NRCan]

2. Indigenous clean energy pathfinding: Invest $500 million over five years to support Indigenous communities in charting the path to clean energy, conservation, and low- carbon infrastructure. Current programs supporting Indigenous clean energy and emissions reductions projects (e.g., CIB Indigenous Equity Initiative, Strategic Partnership Initiative, Wah-ila-toos) may not offer sufficient support for holistic, community-led transition planning to determine which projects are most appropriate, assess the impacts and benefits of potential equity partnerships, and seize workforce opportunities. This funding could also support better internal government coordination across departments and programs, and improved outreach and communication between government and communities regarding available funds. There is a need to streamline information and application processes to improve access for communities and organizations. Specific funding allocations should be determined with direction from Indigenous groups. [NRCan, ISC]

3. Regional Workforce Development: To prepare the workforce for sustainable jobs in a clean economy, we recommend that the federal government deliver a $1 billion fund over five years to: 1) double the funding allocated for the Sustainable Jobs Training Fund and UTIP Sustainable Jobs Stream ($200 million); 2) reinstate the funding to federal- provincial Labour Market Development Agreements ($625 million); and, 3) develop a new 25% training credit to support employers in delivering on-the-job training for skills and technology required as part of the clean economy transition ($125 million). This investment has the potential to equip an estimated 250,000 workers with the skills needed for sustainable jobs in climate and nature solutions, which will be increasingly in demand in the coming years. [ESDC, RDAs]

We recommend that these investments:

  • Include conditions to ensure funded training and skills pathways are aligned with projected growth sectors in a clean economy, specific to each region;
  • Be leveraged to equip workers with skills for clean economy projects identified through regional economic development initiatives such as the Regional Energy and Resource Tables, with labour conditions to ensure decent work standards;
  • Include measures that promote inclusion of equity-seeking groups, pursuant to the principles outlined in the Sustainable Jobs Act; and
  • Allocate specific funding for Indigenous-specific jobs readiness, upskilling and training programs.


4. Continued data collection, analysis and modelling to inform sustainable jobs planning: An investment of $10 million over five years is needed for regional data analysis and modelling projections that support decision makers, employers, and individuals to understand future workforce and economic scenarios and make informed decisions through the shift to a clean economy. This investment would support a working group of experts to define and classify sustainable jobs and indicators and determine a methodology for assessing sectoral, regional, and occupational impacts from different energy outlooks and climate policy scenarios. This information would be used to assess transition vulnerability impacts, provide industry growth outlooks, identify potential labour market gaps, and inform sustainable jobs policy development. Data should be disaggregated along lines of gender, age, race, and other identities to inform policies and programs that address existing inequities. Working closely with the Sustainable Jobs Secretariat, the results of this analysis would be reflected in the Sustainable Jobs Action Plans and made accessible to different audiences as part of the requirement to summarize available data used in the plan’s development as per the Act. [NRCan, ESDC, StatCan]

See also Youth employment programs to build a more equitable and inclusive future for conservation, later in this document.

Sustainable Agriculture Strategy: Cultivating success

The Canadian agri-food and agriculture sector is at a critical juncture. As a sector inherently tied to the rhythms of nature, it is uniquely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. These impacts threaten Canada’s ability to produce food, fiber, and fuel for both domestic consumption and the global market. Despite these considerable challenges, the agriculture sector holds significant potential to advance solutions for achieving national and international goals or commitments such as mitigating climate impacts and reversing biodiversity loss.

The Green Budget Coalition envisions Canada as a leader in sustainable and innovative agriculture, with a resilient and diversified food system. For Canada to sustainably intensify production and drive broader food system outcomes by improving food security, adapting to climate change, and managing demands on limited natural resources, it is integral that producers are encouraged and incentivized to adopt and augment climate-smart and nature-positive practices and technologies. This must be a collective priority, balancing the immediate needs of Canadians with the long-term health of our environment.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Sustainable Agriculture Strategy (currently under development) aims to set a unified course for enhancing the sector’s environmental performance while supporting farmer livelihoods and the business vitality of agriculture. For this strategy to succeed, it requires an implementation plan that is adequately resourced and forward-thinking, promoting the widespread adoption of climate-smart and nature-positive practices, tools, technologies, and innovations across agricultural landscapes and agri-food value chains. Achieving this vision also requires robust collaboration across all levels of government and the private sector.

The Green Budget Coalition recommends that the federal government fund and implement the Sustainable Agriculture Strategy with an emphasis on continual improvement to achieve greater environmental outcomes and resiliency for producers. The following recommendations would help advance and support the implementation of the Sustainable Agriculture Strategy.

Total Recommended Investment: $2.6 billion over five years, followed by $87 million per year, ongoing

Specific Recommended Investments:

A) Support programs that provide biodiversity and ecosystem service benefits $290 million over five years [AAFC, ECCC, PMO, StatCan, NRCan]

Key Actions:

  • Provide financial incentives to producers for the avoided conversion of native and tame grasslands, wetlands, and forested areas. ($125 million over five years).
  • Support programs that maximize the economic and environmental return of marginal land ($50 million over five years).
  • Allocate start-up funding to facilitate the development of a market-based system for quantifying and valuing ecological services on-farm ($75 million over five years).
  • Develop a comprehensive and inclusive national land use strategy in collaboration with provinces, territories, and Indigenous peoples ($40 million over five years).
  • Improve the regulatory process and continuous monitoring of pesticide use to reduce risk and to ensure transparent, robust, and data-driven decisions. See also Data collection to support regulatory evaluation of pesticides, later in this document.

Rationale:

1. Environmental impact:

  • Supports healthy and resilient ecosystems.
  • Mitigates climate change by enhancing carbon sequestration and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Provides essential ecosystem services (provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services) and supports climate resiliency.

2. Economic benefit:

  • Enhances soil health, biodiversity, and ecosystem services which can lead to increased agricultural productivity and resilience against climate change and pests.
  • Markets for ecological services can generate additional revenue streams for landowners and contribute to sustainable economic growth.
  • Creates new economic opportunities such as advancing sustainable agricultural practices.

3. Social and community impact:

  • Enhances community well-being through provisioning services (e.g., food and water), cultural services (e.g., recreational and spiritual), and supporting services (e.g., nutrient cycling) to enhance quality of life and overall health.
  • Promotes sustainable land use practices and secure livelihoods for producers and rural communities.
  • Engages communities in conservation efforts fosters a sense of stewardship and collective responsibility for the environment.

B) Build knowledge and technology transfer capacity to improve economic, environmental, and social benefits $1.040 billion over five years [AAFC, StatCan, ECCC, NSERC, SSHRC].

Key Actions:

  • Improve climate and biodiversity data collection, harmonization, transparency, dissemination, and utilization to improve measuring, reporting, and verifying data to inform the National Inventory Report, encourage the adoption of natural climate solutions, improve agricultural policy-making and programs, and decisions across the value chain ($500 million over five years).
  • Support the transition of the Living Labs Program from pilot to permanent program ($25 million over five years).
  • Advance social science research to ensure Best Management Practices (BMPs) are fiscally sound and financially attractive to encourage full-spectrum participation ($250 million over five years).
  • Enhance technical assistance and training by expanding the extension program to fund 1,500 new extension service agents; improving access to resources, training, and education; supporting farmer-to-farmer and peer-to-peer learning opportunities, and developing a training and certification program to help producers accelerate the adoption of best management practices ($250 million over five years).
  • Support the development and implementation of a Pan-Canadian soil health strategy that will provide farmers access to information, technical support, and financial resources needed to improve soil health ($15 million over five years, to grow over time ($1 million in 2025-26, $2 million in 2026-27, $3 million in 2027- 28, $4 million in 2028-29, $5 million in 2029-30)).

Rationale:

1. Environmental impact:

  • Enables evidence-informed decisions that enhance environmental outcomes.
  • Enhanced data transparency will promote sustainable practices and land use.
  • Contributes to mitigating climate change and improving ecosystem health.

2. Economic benefit:

  • Ensures that resources are allocated efficiently, maximizing return on investment.
  • Leads to cost savings for producers and new sustainable economic opportunities.
  • Enhances the competitiveness of Canadian agriculture in global markets.

3. Social and community impact:

  • Addresses factors that contribute to mental health pressures on producers.
  • Fosters collaboration and knowledge transfer among producers.
  • Improves the capacity of producers to adopt sustainable practices, benefiting communities.
  • Strengthens community ties and collective action towards sustainability.

C) Enhance producer resiliency and sustainable productivity $1.215 billion over five years, followed by $87 million per year, ongoing [AAFC]

Key Actions:

  • Support pilot innovations in business risk management design and integrate climate risk management and adaptation into Business Risk Management (BRM) programs that are additive and incentive-based ($615 million over five years, then $87 million per year, ongoing).
  • Integrate Livestock Price Insurance into AgriInsurance program ($350 million over five years).
  • Develop early warning sign systems for climate-related events (e.g., drought, floods) ($250 million over five years).
  • Review agricultural policies to realign subsidies that may be harmful to nature. See also Subsidy reform: Aligning investments with halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030, later in this document.

Rationale:

1. Environmental impact:

  • Promotes the adoption of best management practices that enhance environmental sustainability.
  • Helps producers prepare for and mitigate the impacts of climate-related events, reducing environmental degradation.

2. Economic benefit:

  • Reduces the long-term costs associated with climate-related risks and improves the financial stability of producers.
  • Supports income stabilization and reward practices that contribute to long-term economic resilience.

3. Social and community impact:

  •  Contributes to the overall resilience and sustainability of rural communities.
  • Helps secure livelihoods for farmers, enhancing food security and community well- being.

Retrofits for resiliency and affordability

Governments across Canada are starting to show leadership in making sure homes are affordable, healthy, safe and resilient to extreme weather. However, addressing our twin housing and climate crises will require significant investments in upgrading homes and buildings.

Total Recommended Investment:

$12.44 billion over five years (detailed breakdown can be found below)

In light of rising energy costs and a housing affordability crisis, retrofit programs have emerged as a critical emissions reduction and climate adaptation solution. Retrofits also contribute to a more equitable and sustainable energy landscape while fostering long-term resilience for vulnerable populations.

Financial and regulatory support for new home construction is advancing rapidly, but we must remember that affordable housing isn’t affordable unless it’s affordable to heat and cool, and is energy-efficient and climate-safe. As we collectively work to increase housing supply across all regions of the country, we must ensure that these new homes are resilient to climate change and do not add to future retrofit and upgrade burdens.

Budget 2024 highlighted the important role that all levels of government play in ensuring all Canadians have access to housing. To ensure all homes have safe levels of indoor air quality, protect occupants from the impacts of climate change, and are able to reduce energy use, costs and emissions, we must:

  • Commit to a plan and process to phase out the on-site combustion of fossil fuels and ensure homes are connected to reliable, clean electricity;
  • Establish the regulations and policy tools required to advance large capital investments in upgrading building envelope and ventilation systems while establishing a market for high-performance buildings; and
  • Recognize that climate-safe housing is a human right and accommodate the unique needs of Indigenous communities.

Over the past few years the critical strategic building blocks have been put in place with the National Adaptation Strategy, the National Housing Strategy, and the Canada Green Building Strategy, which are critically linked to the national climate and energy plans. These strategies require cross-departmental alignment and designated accountability. Also required are targeted regulations and capital funding to stimulate labour and industry growth and retrofit market demand while addressing the needs of Canadians facing the impacts of climate change, as well as those living with high energy burdens.

The Canada Greener Homes Affordability Program takes the right step in partnering with provinces to deliver energy efficiency retrofits to low- and medium-income households. However, the program budget and scope was dramatically reduced and is not sufficient to continue supporting medium and low-income families in upgrading their homes. The recently launched Deep Retrofit Accelerator Initiative offers an opportunity to leverage and enhance funding through locally-focused concierge and market accelerator programs.

Background:

  • The total public investment needed to stimulate decarbonization and climate- proofing of Canada’s existing building stock has been estimated at $10- 15 billion per year for ten years, covering 50-75% of the incremental cost of the required upgrades (above normal replacement costs).
  • The Indigenous Clean Energy (ICE) Indigenous Housing Energy Efficiency Data Set estimates 209,000 homes in Indigenous communities across Canada require energy efficiency upgrades. Combined with the need for about 72,000 new climate resilient homes, it represents an investment of $7.4 billion.
  • Migrant farmworkers are exposed to extreme heat both in their workplaces and often in their on-farm housing, creating serious cumulative health risks. The federal government requires that the housing provided to migrant farm workers be clean and adequate, yet according to the Employment and Social Development Canada’s “What we Heard” survey of migrant worker housing, approximately 43% of on-farm homes for workers are not mechanically cooled.

Detailed Recommended Investments:

To begin ramping up to the full investment level needed, the Green Budget Coalition recommends that the 2025 federal budget allocate $12.44 billion over five years, including:

  • $7 billion over five years for no-cost home efficiency retrofits and heating electrification for low-income households experiencing energy poverty, with assurances to include and protect renters. Within this funding stream, special attention should be paid to rental buildings, non-market and social housing. Funding should also address climate adaptation measures to make these homes healthier, safer and more resilient. [NRCan, CMHC, HC, HICC]
  • $3.8 billion over five years for deep retrofits and energy efficiency investments for housing in Indigenous communities, as identified by Indigenous Clean Energy. [ISC, CMHC, CIB, HICC]
  • $10 million over five years for targeted retrofit funding to make on- farm homes provided for migrant workers more efficient, safe and include mechanical cooling. [CMHC, CIB, ESDC]
  • $1.5 billion over five years for skill development, capacity building and recruitment, with funds earmarked to increase equity and diversity in the retrofit economy. [NRCan, ISED, HC]
  • $125 million for last-mile capital investment in 15-20 transformative deep retrofit demonstration projects identified by the teams participating in the Deep Retrofit Accelerator Initiative. [NRCan]
  • $5 million for the development of a National Affordable Home Energy Strategy with clear actions and outcomes to address energy affordability in Canada. This national strategy should be developed with a focus on energy poverty, with the input of a new advisory group. It should fill gaps in federal policy on energy poverty that remain after the publication of the National Adaptation Strategy and Canadian Green Building Strategy. [NRCan, HICC]

Delivering on nature commitments

In 2019, Canada made a leadership commitment to protect 30% of land and ocean by 2030, and in 2021 put in place significant investments to support implementation through the Enhanced Nature Legacy and Marine Conservation Targets programs. With the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) in December 2022, and the recent release of Canada’s 2030 Nature Strategy which includes all the GBF targets, Canada now has a broader suite of commitments to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. This year’s feature Nature recommendation will ensure foundational progress towards achieving 30% protection of land and ocean continues, including through long-term investments in Indigenous led conservation, while also advancing implementation of broader commitments on ecological restoration, planning, and subsidy reform. Other critical investments to more fully implement the GBF and Canada’s 2030 Nature Strategy are provided as complementary recommendations.

Total Recommended Investment:

  • Renew and build on Enhanced Nature Legacy and Marine Conservation Target programs: $4.6 billion over five years then $1.1 billion per year, ongoing.
  • Advance other key elements of Canada’s 2030 Nature Strategy: $885 million over five years, then $15 million per year, ongoing, plus redirecting $2.5 billion in existing funding, and accelerating efforts on subsidy reform.

Renewing and Building on the Enhanced Nature Legacy and Marine Conservation Targets Programs

Recent significant federal investments have had enormous positive impacts for nature and Canadians, putting us on a hopeful path towards delivering on the commitment to protect at least 30% of land and ocean, contributing to Canada’s reconciliation and climate goals, as well as supporting nature and culture-based economies which provide good, local jobs and support community prosperity. To ensure this positive progress continues across Canada, renewal of the Enhanced Nature Legacy (ENL) and Marine Conservation Targets (MCT) investments is critical, along with further advancing on implementing Canada’s new 2030 Nature Strategy. ENL and MCT funding has already resulted in major progress, including:

  • Support for Indigenous-led conservation initiatives across Canada, including Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) and Guardians programs
  • A fourteen-fold increase in marine protected and conserved areas in the past eight years
  • A vast increase in land and ocean protection initiatives underway, led by Indigenous Nations, local land trusts, and other community-based organizations
  • Nature Agreements with BC, NS, and YT, leveraging provincial and territorial investments and commitments
  • Development of pan-Canadian protection standards (ocean and terrestrial) for protected and conserved areas
  • Ecological corridors identified and community-based projects supported to enhance connectivity across the landscape
  • Increased investment in protecting species at risk and their habitats

Building on the ENL and MCT programs, enhanced investment is also needed to deliver on the federal government’s signature commitment to create 10 new national parks, 14 national marine conservation areas (10 in the ocean and 4 freshwater), and 15 national urban parks by 2030, in partnership with Indigenous Nations. While funding has been allocated to move park proposals through the feasibility phase, federal investment

to establish and steward these parks with Indigenous partners once negotiations are complete is still urgently needed. Providing certainty upfront that long-term funding will be available to support stewardship, jobs and economic prosperity is critical to build trust, negotiate in good faith, and meet community expectations.

Evidence shows that investing in protected natural areas generates a significant return on investment. For example, in 2022-23 every dollar spent by Parks Canada resulted in a 4.2 dollar contribution to Canada’s GDP and Parks Canada and resultant visitor spending supported 38,000 full time equivalent jobs across Canada, many in rural and remote communities. Select programs also attract matching investment from the private sector, charitable foundations and other levels of government to maximize overall investment in conservation.

Advancing Canada’s 2030 Nature Strategy

In June 2024, the federal government released Canada’s 2030 Nature Strategy, which includes the 30% land and ocean protection target as well as a broader suite of important actions to deliver on the full Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity. The GBF reflects the urgency for transformational change to halt and reverse nature loss and establishes ambitious targets that Canada must meet by the end of this decade. Expanded and longer term investment is needed to support new conservation initiatives identified in the Strategy to ensure we reach all our national and international biodiversity targets by 2030. Designed well, this investment can result in the added benefit of engaging and mobilizing Canadians from coast to coast to coast in efforts to protect and restore our country’s beloved natural heritage—a core value of Canadians—and contribute to resilient, diversified economies and community well-being.

In addition to protecting land and ocean, restoration of plant and animal communities is also critical to reverse biodiversity loss in areas where ecosystems have been degraded. Restoration benefits both people and nature, providing ecosystem services such as water purification, flood protection and resilience, recreational values, and climate change mitigation through the restoration of blue carbon ecosystems as well as the forests, grasslands and wetlands that sequester carbon. Restoration activities are also a great way to engage Canadians in activities that support Nature. Robust efforts and an ambitious plan are required to meet Canada’s ecological restoration commitments which include Target 2 of the GBF, commitments under the Freshwater Challenge, and the initial pledge of restoring approximately 19 million hectares of terrestrial ecosystems under the Bonn Challenge.

Over the past decade, Canada has shown leadership on Nature both domestically and internationally. However, more is required to follow through on ambitious commitments to tackle the urgent crisis of biodiversity loss. The stark realities of biodiversity loss are increasingly evident across Canada and pose existential threats to our society, environment, and economy. Studies show that more than half of global GDP, amounting to $44 trillion, depends on nature. The World Economic Forum has identified biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse as a top global risk.

Much of the work to protect, connect, restore and sustainably manage biodiversity hinges on an integrated effort across and among federal, provincial, territorial and Indigenous governments and sufficient long-term and consistent funding. The cost of not adequately investing in maintaining and restoring healthy ecosystems will far outweigh the investments required now to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.

Corporate nature-positive commitments and finance initiatives such as the Task Force on Nature Related Financial Disclosure are building a strong case for private sector investment in nature. However, this private investment will often rely on partnerships and financing initiatives that are blended with public money. To leverage greater private investment, the federal government needs to double down on its investments into nature, not retreat.

Target 18 of the GBF and 2030 Nature Strategy requires Canada to reform subsidies that harm nature, offering an opportunity for the federal government to not only reduce harm to nature but also to invest more in supporting nature protection and restoration priorities. This, combined with a greater emphasis on developing incentives, tools, and strategies to encourage and enable the private sector to invest in nature, as called for in Target 19, could help to raise additional resources to meet biodiversity goals through innovative conservation finance opportunities.

To help ensure implementation of the GBF commitments, a new Nature Accountability law has been tabled in Parliament and is expected to establish a nature advisory committee to help guide implementation of the Nature Strategy. Ensuring this Committee is well resourced will also be important.

Recommendations:

Renew and build on the Enhanced Nature Legacy and Marine Conservation Target programs:

  • $1 billion over five years and then $200 million per year ongoing for Marine Conservation Targets (Targets 1, 3, 22) [DFO, PC, ECCC, TC, NRCan, CIRNAC]
  • $2.9 billion over five years and then $500 million per year ongoing for protecting and connecting land and freshwater (Enhanced Nature Legacy), with a priority on supporting Indigenous-led conservation initiatives, encouraging action by provinces and territories, building Canada’s National Ecological Corridors Program and supporting other implementation partners (Target 1, 3, 4, 22) [ECCC, PC, HICC]
  • $675 million over five years and then $400 million per year ongoing to establish and manage the promised 10 new national parks, 14 new NMCAs, 15 National Urban Parks, in partnership with Indigenous Nations. (Target 3, 12, 22) [PC]

    Advance other key elements of Canada’s 2030 Nature Strategy:
  • Marine spatial planning: $75 million over five years, then $15 million per year, ongoing to complete collaborative marine spatial planning processes in all ocean bioregions [DFO, ECCC, PC, NRCan, TC]
  • Ecological restoration: $810 million over five years of new investment, and directing existing funding (estimated at $2.5 billion) to focus on delivering on international and national restoration commitments [NRCan, ECCC, DFO, AAFC]
  • Subsidy reform: Accelerate efforts to identify federal subsidies that harm nature and reform them to support nature-positive actions. [FIN, ECCC, DFO, AAFC, NRCan]

More detail about these and other important investments required to implement Canada’s 2030 Nature Strategy are provided later in this document, in the Delivering on Nature Commitments – Detailed and Complementary Recommendations section.