Yes.
Thank you, and good morning.
I'm happy to be here to talk about the role of energy efficient measures in the pan-Canadian framework on clean growth and climate change.
As you know, the framework is our national plan and is intended to make Canada more resilient to the impacts of climate change while allowing us to reach our emissions reduction target of 30% below 2005 levels by 2030. The framework accomplishes this through a number of complementary measures across four pillars.
Increasing energy efficiency has always been an important part of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, here and everywhere in the world, and features quite prominently in the framework. To give you some context for the role that energy efficiency measures play, I will give some quick background on the pan-Canadian framework and how it was developed.
The first ministers meeting in Vancouver launched a process that involved a number of working groups, one for each pillar. The groups were composed of officials from provinces, territories and the federal government. We did work with indigenous peoples, did some public consultation with stakeholders and developed a long list of options that were brought forward for consideration. This input provided the basis for the development of options in the reports, and ultimately in the pan-Canadian framework, which was agreed to in December of 2016.
I was the chair of the mitigation working group, along with a counterpart from British Columbia. From the early stages, energy efficiency was considered and has remained an important component of that suite of measures to reduce emissions. In the report produced by the working group, our proposed options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency measures covered industy and the built environment in general.
Energy efficiency measures reflected in the framework were drawn from those options. They include a long list that you'll hear more about today, including improved industrial energy efficiency; model building codes that are designed to be net-zero ready; retrofitting of existing buildings, including the development of a model code for existing buildings; improving energy efficiency for appliances and equipment by setting new standards for heating equipment and other devices; and supporting building codes and energy efficient housing in indigenous housing and indigenous communities.
We've made quite a bit of progress in all areas of the implementation of these measures. We have an annual report that goes to first ministers on this data, which we could share with the committee if you're interested.
On industrial efficiency, the federal government introduced some amendments to the energy efficiency regulations, which came into effect in June of 2017, for a number of product categories. This will be important for improving the performance of those devices. The new Energy Star for industry certification program was launched and a new industry challenge program has been announced.
With regard to the built environment, the federal, provincial and territorial ministers of energy are collaborating on improving energy efficiency in buildings through the Canadian energy strategy, and energy ministers have released Canada's buildings strategy, which is tied to the pan-Canadian framework. Energy efficiency requirements for new buildings are also being implemented and retrofits are being supported though financial assistance programs.
In addition, key funding envelopes have been announced to support energy efficiency measures, all of which are currently in the process of being rolled out and implemented at the moment.
I'll pause there, and perhaps turn it over to my colleague Helen, who will tell us more about Environment Canada initiatives related to energy efficiency.