2020 to 2023 Short-form Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy
| Name of department |
Shared Services Canada |
|---|---|
| Date |
February 2021 |
| Context |
The 2019 to 2022 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS) presents the Government of Canada’s sustainable development goals and targets, as required by the Federal Sustainable Development Act. Shared Services Canada (SSC) adheres to the principles of the FSDS, and while not bound formally by the Act, complies with the Policy on Green Procurement and has developed this Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy (DSDS). The Policy on Green Procurement supports the Government of Canada’s effort to promote environmental stewardship. In keeping with the objectives of the policy, SSC supports sustainable development by integrating environmental performance considerations into the procurement decision‑making process through the actions described in the 2019 to 2022 FSDS “Greening Government” goal. |
| Commitments |
SSC supports commitments made in the Greening Government Strategy, including commitments to transition to net-zero emissions by 2050 and to support the transition to a net-zero circular economy through green procurement. SSC’s updated 2020 to 2023 DSDS is more comprehensive than the previous version, going beyond solely procurement related goals and covering a variety of Green Government Strategy Goals. Departments, as defined in section 2 of the Financial Administration Act and listed in Schedules I, I.1 and II of that Act, which includes SSC, are currently bound by the Policy on Green Procurement. These organizations are required to state their green procurement plans in support of the 2019 to 2022 FSDS “Greening Government” actions, targets and indicators. |
| Integrating sustainable development |
SSC will continue to ensure that its decision-making process considers FSDS goals and targets through its Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) process. An SEA for policy, plan or program proposals includes an analysis of the impacts of the given proposal on the environment, including on FSDS goals and targets. Public statements on the results of SSC’s assessments are made public when an initiative that has undergone a detailed SEA is announced. The purpose of the public statement is to demonstrate that the environmental effects, including the impacts on achieving the FSDS goals and targets, of the approved policy, plan or program have been considered during proposal development and decision making. |
Greening Government: The Government of Canada will transition to low-carbon, climate resilient, and green operations
Responsible Minister: All ministers
This goal captures commitments from the Greening Government Strategy, as well as reporting requirements under the Policy on Green Procurement.
| Greening Government Communities FSDS targets | FSDS contributing actions | Corresponding departmental action(s) | Contribution by each departmental action to the FSDS goal and target | Starting point(s), target(s) and performance indicator(s) for departmental actions | Link to the department’s Program Inventory |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Actions supporting the Goal: Greening Government |
Departments will adopt clean technology and undertake clean technology demonstration projects. |
SSC will sponsor the development and adoption of technological innovation for a greener government. |
Supporting Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC) challenges that are focused on lowering the environmental footprint of government operations while contributing to the success of clean-tech businesses in Canada. Sustainable Development Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation |
Performance indicator: Number of SSC-funded ISC challenges that are focused on the development of innovative green technologies. Starting point (baseline):1 as of March 31, 2021 Target: 2 SSC funded ISC challengesFootnote 1 |
Enterprise Services Design and Delivery |
|
Actions supporting the Goal: Greening Government |
Departments will adopt clean technology and undertake clean technology demonstration projects. |
SSC will decommission and replace aging, less-efficient data center infrastructure managed by SSC with more efficient Enterprise Data Centres (EDC) (Data Centre Consolidation). The Workload Migration Program will shrink the aggregate government-wide requirement on computer resources by leveraging modern facilities either in Government of Canada (GC) EDCs or provided by public cloud service providers, enabling efficiencies. |
Actions to consolidate and modernize data centres will improve data centre energy efficiency. Sustainable Development Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation Sustainable Development Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts |
Performance indicator: Number of legacy data centres closed Starting point (baseline): As of December 31, 2020, SSC has closed 306 out of 720 legacy data centres. Target: SSC will close at least 50 additional legacy data centres by the end of fiscal year 2021 to 2022. |
Data Centre Information Technology Operations |
|
Actions supporting the Goal: Greening Government |
Departments will adopt clean technology and undertake clean technology demonstration projects. |
SSC will maintain a minimum mandatory requirement for LEED Silver certification for all new and existing SSC EDCs and will include a minimum mandatory requirement for LEED silver for all new major construction projects for existing EDCs. |
SSC supports innovative clean technologies that lower the environmental footprint of government operations. Sustainable Development Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all Sustainable Development Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation Sustainable Development Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts |
Performance indicator: Percentage of EDCs with a minimum of LEED silver certification. Starting point (baseline): 100% Target: 100% |
Data Centre Information Technology Operations |
|
Actions supporting the Goal: Greening Government |
Other – Employee Commuting |
SSC will enable telework across the federal government by providing increased Secure Remote Access (SRA) capacity, teleconferencing/videoconferencing capacity, and by rolling out Microsoft TEAMS. This can reduce employee commuting and resulting Greehouse Gas (GHG) emissions. |
Enabling telework can reduce building space required, and GHG emissions from building construction, operation and employee commuting. Sustainable Development Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts |
Performance Indicator:Number and percentage of government employees that can connect to networks with SRA, of those that require SRA connections.Footnote 2 Starting point (baseline): 283,622, representing 100% of required connections as of December 1, 2020. Target: 100% of SSC customers that require SRA connections will be able to connect at 2021 to 2022 year end. Performance Indicator: Percentage of Teams Users enabled across SSC’s 43 core partners. Starting Point (Baseline): 56% as of December 9, 2020. Target: 90% at 2021 to 2022 year end. |
Security and Workplace Technologies |
|
Actions supporting the Goal: Greening Government |
Other - Improvements to real property operations |
SSC will reduce the footprint of SSC office spaces through modernisation and consolidation. |
Actions to reduce the footprint of SSC office spaces will save energy and reduce emissions. Sustainable Development Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all Sustainable Development Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts |
Performance indicator: SSC office space (in square meters) per employee. Starting point (baseline): 16.54m2 per employee as of December 2020 Target: 30% reduction by 2026 |
Internal services – Real Property Management Services |
|
Actions supporting the Goal: Greening Government |
Other- Engagement- Creating sustainable workplaces, including through employee mobilization and action |
SSC will mobilize and engage its employees in environmental sustainability. |
Creating sustainable workplaces, including through employee mobilization and action. Sustainable Development Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns Sustainable Development Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development |
Performance Indicator: Number of times SSC annually engages SSC employees via communiques, contests, lock screen, etc. on separate environmental issues, announcements or initiatives. Starting point (baseline): Not available Target: 3 annually |
Internal Services – Communications Services |
|
Actions supporting the Goal: Greening Government |
Departments will use environmental criteria to reduce the environmental impact and ensure best value in government procurement decisions. |
SSC will further integrate environmental requirements in its decision-making processes and governance structures through a phased adoption of mandatory environmental considerations in procurement vehicles and enterprise procurements. SSC will further require globally recognized ecolabels in its procurements, such as the Green Electronic Council’s flagship Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT). |
Support the Procurement of Goods and Services Greening Government goal by developing and integrating departmental practices that align with the Standard on Green Procurement. Sustainable Development Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns |
Performance indicator: Percentage of SSC procurement vehicles that include environmental criteria that are established or renewed in the current year. Percentage of SSC enterprise procurements that include environmental criteria signed in the current year. Starting point (baseline): Not available Target: 10% for year 2021 to 2022Footnote 3 |
Internal Services- Acquisition Management Services |
|
Actions supporting the Goal: Greening Government |
Departments will use environmental criteria to reduce the environmental impact and ensure best value in government procurement decisions. |
Though environmental assessment studies of its procurements, SSC will identify and measure the environmental costs of its services and operations, focused on emissions, water use, and clean energy. |
Establish a science-based environmental footprint, and prioritize environmental actions. Sustainable Development Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns |
Performance indicator: Number of completed environmental assessment studies that identify, measure and provide a baseline for the environmental costs of SSC services and operations. Starting point (baseline): 0 Target: During 2021 to 2022, complete two (2) environmental assessment studies. |
Internal Services- Acquisition Management Services |
|
Actions supporting the Goal: Greening Government |
Support for green procurement will be strengthened, including guidance, tools and training for public service employees. |
SSC will promote the Canada School of Public Service (CSPS) course C215 – Green Procurement to its procurement community.
|
Ensuring decisions makers and specialists in procurement have the necessary training and awareness to support green procurement allows for environmentally responsible procurements. Sustainable Development Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns |
Performance indicator: Percentage of SSC Procurement and Vendor Relations’ Contracting Authorities who have completed the CSPS course C215 – Green Procurement or equivalent. Starting point (baseline): 60% (102/169) in 2019 to 2020 Target: 100%Footnote 4 |
Internal Services- Acquisition Management Services |
|
Our administrative fleet will be comprised of at least 80% zero-emissions vehicles (ZEVs) by 2030 |
Fleet management will be optimized including by applying telematics to collect and analyze vehicle usage data on vehicles scheduled to be replaced. |
All new SSC vehicle purchases will be ZEVs or hybrids. SSC is also reducing its fleet where possible. |
Replacing conventional vehicles with ZEVs, and/or reducing the size of SSC’s fleet, reduces emissions. Sustainable Development Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts |
Performance indicator: Percentage of annual hybrid or electric vehicle acquisition out of all fleet acquisition that year. Starting point (baseline): 0% of annual fleet purchases in 2019 to 2020 Target: 80% in 2021 to 2022 and Fleet comprised of 80% ZEVs by 2030 |
Internal Services – Acquisition Management Services and Material Management Services |
|
By 2022, departments have developed measures to reduce climate change risks to assets, services and operations |
Increase training and support on assessing climate change impacts, undertaking climate change risk assessments and developing adaptation actions to public service employees, and facilitate sharing of best practices and lessons learned. |
SSC is committed to planning for climate change by incorporating climate resilient attributes into solicitations for EDCs, serving the federal government. |
Factoring climate variability and change into data centre siting supports climate resilience. Sustainable Development Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts |
Performance indicator: Percentage of owned buildings where SSC considered the effects of climate change in building planning, site selection, or adjustments. Starting point (baseline): 100% Target: 100% |
Data Centre Information Technology Operations |
|
Use 100% clean electricity by 2025 |
Other |
SSC will use clean electricity in the data centres it owns, including by working with Public Services and Procurement Canada to purchase renewable energy certificates to compensate for the high-carbon portion of the electricity grid. |
The use of clean electricity reduces GHG emissions and encourages the provision of clean electricity. Sustainable Development Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts |
Performance Indicator: Percentage of primary sourceFootnote 5 clean electricity used in SSC-owned data centre locations. Starting point (baseline): In 2019 to 2020, 90.81% of electricity used in SSC owned data centres was classified as clean.Footnote 6 Target: 90% by 2021 to 2022 year end and 100% by 2025 including through the purchase of renewable energy certificates. |
Data Centre Information Technology Operations |
|
Divert at least 75% (by weight) of non-hazardous operational waste from landfills by 2030 |
Other |
SSC will implement and promote the E-Signature initiative to reduce printing and paper waste. SSC will also provide guidance and support for other government departments to implement this initiative. |
Reducing waste from landfills reduces landfill gas and emissions from transport/hauling. Reducing paper, pen and printing usage reduces emissions from the extraction and production of virgin materials. Sustainable Development Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns |
Performance indicator: Percentage of SSC forms that can be signed using e-signature. Starting point (baseline): 90% (140/155) Target: 95% (148/155) |
Internal Services- Information Management Services |
|
Divert at least 75% (by weight) of non-hazardous operational waste from landfills by 2030 |
Other |
Decommissioned SSC IT assets are reused, including through the Computer for Schools (CFS) program, or recycled via the Electronic Product Recycling Association (EPRA). |
SSC promotes circularity by providing avenues for the re-use and recycling of IT equipment at the end of its life cycle. Sustainable Development Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns |
Performance Indicator: Percentage of SSC IT assets diverted from becoming waste through established mechanisms: selling, reusing or ethical recycling (EPRA). Starting point (baseline): In 2019 to 2020, SSC disposed of approximately 20,513 or 100% of electronic assets through re-use, sale or recyclingFootnote 7. Target: 75% sustainable disposals of our assets. |
Internal Services – Material Management Services |
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