Opinion: AG must launch audit of province's 2023 climate change strategy

Alberta’s auditor general should initiate a comprehensive performance audit into whether the ministries of Environment and Protected Areas and Mines and Minerals have adequate systems and processes in place — at a reasonable cost to Albertans — for planning, monitoring and reporting to meet the goals set out under the 2023 Alberta Emissions Reduction and Energy Development (ERED) strategy.

The strategy was released more than two years ago by the UCP government, but implementation — including the commitment to a carbon-neutral economy by 2050 — appears to have stalled. The 2025 mandate letters from Premier Danielle Smith to the ministers of the two portfolios make no direct reference to implementing ERED. However, the 2023 mandate letter from the premier to the minister of Environment and Protected Areas talked about co-ordinating with the energy minister to implement ERED.

An independent audit of ERED is an important element of a strong climate change accountability framework. In a 2018 audit, Alberta’s auditor general pointed out that maintaining overall and sectoral implementation plans, and rigorous and effective monitoring of the progress of climate change programs — including complete information on costs — were critical elements of a system to manage provincial climate change plans.

The scope of the auditor general’s 2025 performance audit on ERED should include the following key elements:

Planning: Examining the adequacy of the systems and processes for ERED implementation, including:

• Preparing a comprehensive ERED Implementation Plan that indicates, for each ERED focus area, the major actions required; a description of each action; deliverables, milestones and timing for each action, required financial resources for each action, cost of each action expressed as the cost per tonne of GHG emissions reduced; and the planned effect of each action toward meeting Alberta’s GHG emissions reduction targets;

• Defining expected results, including performance measures with targets, for each ERED action and for ERED overall; and

• Corroborating through modelling and other analysis that the actions chosen will result in Alberta being on track for achieving its goals and GHG emission reduction targets at a reasonable cost to Albertans.

Monitoring: Examining the adequacy of systems and processes for ERED monitoring, including:

• Monitoring and evaluating effectiveness by evaluating the costs and benefits of each action and ERED overall;

• Examining results achieved by each action against the goals and targets set out in the implementation plan; and

• Identifying corrective actions or continual improvement based on the analysis of results.

Reporting: Examining the adequacy of systems and processes for reporting on ERED on a regular basis to Albertans, including

• The costs and benefits of each action and ERED overall;

• Progress made toward expected results of each action and ERED overall; and

• Providing feedback to government decision-makers to allow for adjustments to ERED, as necessary.

The reputational risks of the Alberta government not fully acting on ERED implementation are real. Earlier this fall, Ontario’s auditor general reported that the province had no credible plan to meet its 2030 emissions target and that existing policies would fall far short. This appears to have damaged Ontario’s climate credibility in national and international circles.

With the release of the federal government climate competitiveness strategy, strong implementation of ERED is critical given talks between Ottawa and Alberta about a “Grand Bargain” focused on significantly reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, encouraging carbon capture and storage (CCS) deployment, and unlocking pipeline development.

Lennie Kaplan was a senior manager in the fiscal and economic policy division of the Ministry of Treasury Board and Finance. He also served as a consultant to the Office of the Auditor General during its 2018 audit, “Design of Systems to Manage the Climate Leadership Plan and Adaptation.”