Environment Canada uses a wide range of tools to protect the environment, including regulations, guidelines, codes of practice, economic instruments, challenge programs and educational campaigns. Included in this section are two voluntary initiative programs whereby certain sectors have made commitments to achieving environmental success.

Environmental Performance Agreements

Environment Canada is signalling its willingness to use voluntary agreements as another tool in the environmental protection toolbox through its Environmental Performance Agreements program. An Environmental Performance Agreement is a custom-made agreement with Environment Canada that can deal with a wide range of environmental protection issues. Each one of these agreements is designed around certain basic principles and criteria that are outlined in Environment Canada's Policy Framework for Environmental Performance Agreements. Such agreements are possible where the parties involved share common objectives and each can derive benefits from addressing a particular environmental issue.

ARET (Accelerated Reduction/Elimination of Toxics) Program

The ARET program was a very successful industry led voluntary challenge program. ARET challenged industry to voluntarily reduce releases of a list of 117 toxic substances. The program ran from 1994 to 2000, and succeeded in attracting participation from 8 major industry sectors, 171 companies and government organizations, and 318 individual facilities. Collectively these participants achieved a total reduction in releases to the environment of almost 28,000 tonnes of toxic substances, when releases in the last year of the program are compared to the base year levels of those releases. Over the entire course of the program, more than 70,000 tonnes of ARET substances were prevented from being released to the Canadian environment. Complete results for the final 2 years of the program will be published in the upcoming Environmental Leaders 4 report. Experience gained through the ARET program has been reflected in the EPA Policy Framework.