Executive Summary

In pursuing commitments made in Sustainable Development (SD) Strategy 2004-2007, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) completed 78% of planned commitments for fiscal year 2006-2007, and an overall 85% for the three years of the Strategy.

CRA Sustainable Development Strategy 2004-2007 set four long-term goals, namely:

The goals were intended to support the CRA sustainable development vision to be a globally recognized organization for best practices for sustainable development. We achieved most of the expected results for each goal. Highlights for 2006-2007 included:

Goal 1 - Reduce the effects of our operations on land, air, and water: The results of goal 1 moved us from ad hoc to systematic management of our environmental operations. Through the establishment and pursuit of annual activities, we diverted from landfill 79% of solid waste generated at select CRA facilities in 2006-2007 - equivalent to 2,681 tonnes of solid waste; reduced multi-purpose office paper use per employee by 646 sheets to 5,761 sheets per employee; and doubled our purchases of green products to $16.9 million - representing 16.9% of purchases (WBRO, fleet vehicles, publishing).

Goal 2 - Our programs demonstrate sustainable service delivery: Through our program delivery, the take-up of electronic filing of individual tax returns increased by 1.5% to 50.6%, and the take-up of electronic filing of corporate tax returns increased by 5.7% to 15.5%. We also promoted sustainable business travel among our internal auditors.

Goal 3 - All employees apply sustainable development in their job: To assure accountability, 68% of the Executive Cadre included a sustainable development commitment in their performance agreements, thereby demonstrating leadership and support for sustainable development. In addition, we launched the Sustainable Development Innovation Fund (SDIF) to encourage employee-driven SD initiatives. A total of 35 project proposals were received, from which 5 projects were awarded funds totaling $50,000.

Goal 4 - Modern systems that support and maintain sustainable development: We assessed the status of the sustainable development program, and used key findings to prepare and table CRA SD Strategy 2007-2010 in Parliament in December 2006. We also revised the CRA Sustainable Development Policy and Environment Policy. As part of the mandate of the Office of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development (CESD), the CRA was audited and received satisfactory assessment for progress made on integrating sustainability criteria into our partnership agreements. This was included in the 2006 Report of the Commissioner to the House of Commons.

Overall, we conclude that SD Strategy 2004-2007 was a success. For 2006-2007, we completed 43 of 55 activities, and 70 of 82 activities for the 3-year period 2004-2007. Of those activities, not completed, a total of 10 activities were in progress, 1 was dropped, and implementation on another deferred. The new Sustainable Development Strategy 2007-2010 will advance work on all in-progress and deferred activities. It will also deepen sustainable development integration into our programs and operations.

Date modified:

2008-03-27