Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators: Conclusions

Archived Content

Information identified as archived is provided for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It is not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards and has not been altered or updated since it was archived. Please "contact us" to request a format other than those available.

Conclusions

What are the overall implications?

The three indicators reported here raise concerns for Canada’s environmental sustainability, the health and well-being of Canadians, and our economic performance. The trends for air quality and greenhouse gas emissions are pointing to greater threats to human health and the planet’s climate. The water quality results show that guidelines are being exceeded, at least occasionally, at most of the selected monitoring sites across the country.

Linking the indicators and connecting them to other socio-economic and environmental information can guide policy decisions that better address economic performance, quality of life, and environmental sustainability. For example, the pollutants that combine to form ground-level ozone (nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds) are emitted by transportation and energy production — activities that are essential to Canadians’ lifestyles, but that are also major sources of greenhouse gas emissions. In turn, nitrogen oxides and sulphur oxides, both by-products of burning fossil fuels, fall as acid precipitation. This affects the water in sensitive lakes and rivers, notably in parts of eastern Canada, and harms their aquatic organisms.

One part of the economic dimension of the indicators is the cost associated with reducing water and air pollution. For example, governments, businesses and households need to spend to treat the water that they plan to use, and then spend again to reduce their impact on that water. Another key consideration is the socio-economic cost of the pollution itself. A monetary estimate of all the health impacts—health care costs, lost productivity, and pain and suffering — runs to the billions of dollars per year in Canada.

What’s next?

Reports will be produced annually on a continually improving set of indicators with increasingly robust analyses to track the changes in water quality, air quality and greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. The indicators will benefit from enhanced monitoring capabilities, new survey results for both water quality and air quality, new scientific knowledge and guidelines, as well as improved data management and analytical methods. Future reports will be supported with an online information system that will allow users to examine regional and sectoral details and conduct their own analyses. One of the biggest challenges will be the transition from reporting these indicator results separately to reporting them as a set that is integrated with other information on the environment, measures of economic performance and indices of social progress. The long-term goal is better decision-making that fully accounts for environmental sustainability.