The Comité interministériel du développement durable (interdepartmental committee on sustainable development - CIDD) is a body whose decisions are intended to guide Québec government departments and agencies in their contribution to sustainable development. It is also a forum for discussion, information sharing and the promotion of sustainable development. The CIDD’s work is carried out in a dynamically participatory and contributive spirit. Chaired by the assistant deputy minister of sustainable development for the Ministère de l’Environnement et de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques (MELCC), the CIDD is composed of high-level managers (assistant deputy ministers, associate deputy ministers or their equivalents), who assist the Ministère in executing the mandates entrusted to it by the Sustainable Development Act.

Mandate

• Establish common guidelines for continuing the government’s approach to sustainable development.
• Participate in the implementation of the Government Sustainable Development Strategy and its monitoring, especially by contributing to the development and validation of indicators, as well as to the production and approval of periodic progress and implementation reports required under the Sustainable Development Act.
• Determine or monitor measures to foster better harmonization and complementarity of actions taken by the public administration, including the implementation of six government projects to create high-level convergence in order to reach government targets.
• Identify measures to foster the integration of sustainable development and its principles in government policies, plans and programs by considering the financial and administrative contexts in which the departments and agencies operate.
• Inform members of new issues related to sustainable development, define major government structuring actions or support their implementation in order to take action as required beyond the themes conveyed in the strategy.
• Contribute to the promotion of the government’s approach to sustainable development at the national and international levels within the framework of government actions.
• Play an advisory role with respect to the Sustainable Development Steering Committee (Comité directeur du développement durable - CDDD) on strategic topics that require high-level decisions.

Procedure

• CIDD members are assistant deputy ministers, associate deputy ministers or their equivalents. The chairmanship and secretariat are provided by the Ministère.
• The assistant deputy minister of sustainable development chairs the CIDD. In his absence, the role falls to the director of the Sustainable Development Coordination Office at the Ministère.
• The secretary performs all tasks assigned to him by the CIDD, takes the necessary steps to ensure that the Committee runs smoothly, prepares the agenda and writes up the minutes for each meeting.
• The Committee meets three or four times a year. Members should receive meeting notices about twenty days prior to the meeting date and the draft agenda should indicate the decisions to be made during the meeting. CIDD representatives who are unable to attend the meeting delegate their decision-making authority to their representatives.
• CIDD members may be invited to join communities of practitioners (commonly called “communities of practice”) to share their experience. Additionally, meetings may be held alongside official CIDD meetings in order to invite outside guests such as government representatives or experts wishing to discuss the government’s approach to sustainable development and share their experience.
• In conjunction with the preceding point, an ad hoc committee composed of CIDD members or sustainable development officers could be mandated to study strategic topics and make recommendations during official meetings.