Last week, on 17 June 2025, amid the G7 summit, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) officially published the 2025–2026 Departmental Plan, which is an annual document outlining Canada’s priorities, strategies, and initiatives for addressing environmental challenges in the upcoming fiscal year. These plans are required under the Federal Accountability Act and serve as a roadmap for policy implementation, guiding government agencies, industries, and stakeholders toward shared environmental goals, setting measurable objectives, allocating resources, and identifying performance indicators to track progress.
The 2025–2026 Departmental Plan introduces key updates compared to previous iterations. Notably, the plan reflects the recent elimination of the federal consumer fuel charge and emphasizes carbon pricing efforts on industrial emitters through the Output-Based Pricing System (OBPS). This aligns with the scheduled 2026 review of the Federal Carbon Pricing Benchmark, which is expected to strengthen the stringency and consistency of industrial carbon pricing across provinces. This will put pressure on provinces operating parallel programs to align with the federal benchmark.
The plan reaffirms Canada's previously announced goal to reduce emissions by 45 to 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2035, and emphasizes carbon pricing and regulatory tools to progress towards this target. This aligns with Canada’s broader climate strategy under the Carney government to focus on emissions reductions in the industrial sector while promoting innovation and sustainability in industries.
Other elements of the plan include accelerating Canada’s transition to net-zero emissions through strengthened regulations, investments in clean energy and transportation, expanding natural climate solutions like wetland and forest restoration, enhancing climate resilience for infrastructure, and maintaining Canada’s international climate leadership through financial support and methane reduction initiatives. The plan also emphasizes the importance of collaboration with provincial, territorial, and Indigenous partners to protect nature and advance environmental justice.
The timing of the Departmental Plan's release coincided with the 2025 G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, where the impacts of climate change were made highly visible from the wildfire season. While the Departmental Plan outlines Canada's domestic climate strategies, at the G7 Summit, leaders faced difficulties in reaching substantive agreements on key global issues, including climate change. Notably, the summit's final statements omitted explicit references to climate change, signaling a retreat from previous commitments.
The contrast between Canada's climate planning and the G7's more ambiguous stance highlights the delicate balance between advancing its domestic climate goals and navigating broader geopolitical tensions, particularly with the United States, where climate policy alignment has recently diverged. ClearBlue will continue to monitor developments in Canada’s climate targets and will provide updates as needed.