Thank you, John.
Mr. Chair and members of the committee, I'm Robert Laframboise, director general of the Office of Greening Government Operations within Public Works and Government Services Canada.
I would like to thank you for inviting us here today. I am pleased to appear before you to discuss PWGSC's role in supporting government departments to implement enhanced energy efficiency for federally owned or operated buildings.
On October 7, 2012, Ms. Caroline Weber, ADM for corporate services within PWGSC, appeared before you to discuss our role under the federal sustainable development strategy's theme four, which is greening of government operations.
As you may recall, the FSDS applies to 27 departments and agencies, 15 of which are custodial and subject to targets focusing on improving the environmental performance of their real property holdings.
Since our department's last appearance on this subject, the progress report on the first cycle of the FSDS, which is FSDS 2010, was released, in mid-February of 2013. Additionally, the graph of the second cycle of the FSDS, which is FSDS 2013—the program is on a three-year cycle—has been released for public consultation. Both of these documents are available online and will be of interest to the committee members here today.
The FSDS progress report shows that custodial departments have collectively committed to assess the environmental performance of 1,908 existing crown-owned buildings. This number covers approximately 80% of fully occupied buildings greater than 1,000 square metres.
While departments can choose any industry-recognized assessment tool, most have selected BOMA BESt, as mentioned by my colleague John.
The FSDS progress report also highlights that, based on departmental reports on plans and priorities for 2012-13, the government has committed to achieve a 12% decrease in greenhouse gas emission levels, relative to the base year 2005-06, by fiscal 2021. This projected gap of 5% relative to the 17% target highlights the need for additional efforts to be made.
However, more recent information from departments shows greater progress than expected. In the first year of implementation, energy consumption fell by 4.2% compared with the base year level of 2005-06. This resulted in a 3.9% decrease in total GHG emissions from real property holdings relative to the planned reductions of less than 3%. The draft of the FSDS 2013 has been updated to better support the implementation of additional energy efficiency measures.
Some of the proposed changes from the previous FSDS 2010 include benchmarking, use of such sustainable real property performance indicators as energy use intensity, building operator training, builder automation systems, and commissioning practices.
In conclusion, Public Works supports departments in achieving the FSDS targets, both by drawing on its real property expertise and by leveraging initiatives of partners such as Natural Resources Canada. We will continue to collaborate with our colleagues across government in the development and implementation of each successive cycle of the FSDS to reduce our environmental footprint.
Again, I thank the committee for the opportunity to attend today. I will respond to your questions; however, I will ask Geoff to take the lead.
Thank you.