ARCHIVED - Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade

Agenda 2009: A Sustainable Development Strategy 2007-2009 for Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada defines sustainable development initiatives for the 2007-2009 period. The initiatives support two broad goals and five objectives. An example of results achieved for each objective is found below; detailed progress on each commitment can be found in the Agenda 2009 annual report for 2007.

Goal 1: Ensure greater integration of sustainable development into departmental policies, programs and operations.

Objective 1.1: Organizational structures and processes support meaningful and significant sustainable development objectives. In cooperation with the Canadian Foreign Service Institute, the Canadian Energy Research Institute offered an "Energy for Diplomats" course on June 11 and 12, 2007, and an expanded course was on track to be offered from June 9 to 11, 2008. This course is designed to fill a knowledge gap on the interface between energy issues and Canadian foreign and trade policy and was so well received it has been expanded to three days.

Objective 1.2: Improved environmental management practices through the Environmental Management System. The department has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions per vehicle-kilometre by approximately 50% for the departmental fleet within Canada. Reductions were measured based on 2003-2004 figures.

Goal 2: Advance Canada’s sustainable development interests related to foreign affairs and international trade.

Objective 2.1: Effective promotion of international security and respect for human rights, good governance and the rule of law as prerequisites for sustainable development. DFAIT provided funding for the dismantlement and defuelling of five decommissioned Russian nuclear submarines, which took place at the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Zvyozdochka in Severodvinsk. Recovering and securing nuclear fuel from decommissioned nuclear submarines eliminates a range of security and environmental threats, such as spent nuclear fuel leaking into the Arctic Ocean. This work is complemented by a $32 million contribution to the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership, whose efforts tackle some of the most pressing security and environmental problems in northwest Russia, where Canadian submarine dismantlement is taking place.

Objective 2.2: Enhanced Canadian prosperity through advancement of Canadian sustainable development interests and priorities in trade relations, policies and programs. Canada’s Trade Commissioner Service recognizes the importance of including corporate social responsibility as an element of its promotional activities. Responsible business conducted by Canadian companies abroad reinforces the positive effects that trade and investment can have on human rights, the environment and competitiveness. Canada’s trade commissioners are encouraged to incorporate the promotion of CSR (including the OECD Guidelines) into the delivery of the core services provided to Canadian companies operating abroad. DFAIT is, with that perspective in mind, enhancing the capacity and knowledge of government officials on CSR through training and development of tools. For instance, in early 2007, the Trade Commissioner Service developed a course on CSR, including a session on the OECD Guidelines. The pilot course was held on May 16, 2007.

Objective 2.3: Advancing Canada’s interests on key environmental and sustainable development issues. Canada has actively promoted its excellent record in sustainable forest management internationally by emphasizing Canada’s leadership as the country with the largest area of forest coverage certified to sustainable forest management standards. Canada has promoted how its legislative framework and sustainable forest management certification schemes operate to provide assurance of the legality and sustainability of forest products. Canada has stressed the importance of recognizing Canadian and international sustainable forest management certification schemes and, within the context of the development of public policies, the importance of developing reasonable criteria in the assessment of sustainable forest management certification schemes.

Key Results: Key results achieved in 2007-2008 on each target and commitment in Agenda 2009 are detailed in the annual report for 2007, which will be made available at http://international.gc.ca/foreign_policy/ees/Agenda2007/menu-en.asp.

Linkages with the Federal Sustainable Development Goals: DFAIT was an active participant in the development and consultative process for the federal sustainable development goals. DFAIT supports this type of collaboration on horizontal sustainable development issues, and it has identified the actions that contribute directly to the federal goals in the "expected outcome" column in the charts of Agenda 2009 as well as in the 2007 annual report. It should be noted that although many DFAIT initiatives support the overarching federal goals, the outcomes were often too specific or too domestically focused for a clear linkage to be evident.