President of the Treasury Board Mona Fortier speaks in the foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022. Major suppliers to the federal government will have to start disclosing their carbon footprint to keep doing business with Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
OTTAWA – Major suppliers to the federal government will have to start disclosing their carbon footprint to keep doing business with Ottawa.
But Treasury Board President Mona Fortier did not answer a question about whether the directive will actually force companies to make their carbon footprints smaller.
Starting April 1, any company awarded a government contract worth more than $25 million will have to publish their annual greenhouse gas emissions.
They also need to use the federal Net Zero Challenge or a similar system to set targets and report on progress.
The challenge requires participants to set a net-zero emissions target by 2050, but there are no penalties if the targets are missed.
The federal government buys more than $22 billion in goods and services annually but the government’s contracts database lists only 127 individual contracts worth more than $25 million last year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 28, 2023.
