National Defence is committed to strong climate action, and we are taking concrete steps to reduce our carbon footprint.
Between 2017 and 2021, we invested over $280 million on a range of infrastructure projects that are designed to reduce emissions, secured access to clean electricity, and initiated energy performance contracts at Canadian Armed Forces bases and wings across the country.
These initiatives are yielding meaningful results. As of 2021/22, National Defence has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions to 36% below 2005 levels. This puts us on track to meet the 40% target by 2025.
We are also committed to achieving net zero emissions from our infrastructure portfolio and National Safety and Security fleets by 2050.
We are continuing to refine and implement our Carbon Neutral Roadmap by addressing our largest emitting facilities and creating fleet decarbonization plans.
National Defence will continue to demonstrate leadership in environmental and energy sustainability.
Key Facts
National Defence has 27 dedicated energy managers who are leading initiatives to increase energy efficiency and reduce emissions at National Defence infrastructure across Canada.
From June 2017 to May 2021, National Defence invested $288.6 million on a range of infrastructure projects designed to reduce carbon emissions, including:
$144.6M in green upgrades to military residential housing;
$50.8M to improve the energy performance of real property assets;
$28.1M to demolish obsolete buildings;
$7.0M to modernize heating and building systems at CFB Halifax; and,
$6.0M for infrastructure projects undertaken as part of the former 2016 infrastructure stimulus package.
CFB Gagetown: National Defence has its first ever Net Zero building in CFB Gagetown. This will be used as an example and replicated for new infrastructure projects.
Details
Background
National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces play a leadership role in efforts to meet the Government-wide target to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 as well as its near-term goal of 40% by 2025.
Strong, Secure, Engaged (SSE) highlight’s National Defence’s commitment to meet its Federal Sustainable Development Strategy goal of reducing its emissions by 40% from the 2005 levels by 2030 (excluding military fleets). Under SSE, National Defence has also committed to examining alternative energy options and their potential use for operations.
Through the Greening Government Strategy, the Government of Canada is committed to reaching its greenhouse gas emissions of net-zero by 2050, including emissions from the Government’s National Safety and Security Fleet. Greening the Federal Fleet:
Dedicated "energy managers" are assigned to bases/wings. They will lead initiatives to increase energy efficiency and reduce emissions at National Defence infrastructure across Canada.
The Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal Canadian Navy are developing fleet decarbonisation plans that will be regularly updated to support a net-zero emissions National Safety and Security fleet. These plans are expected in 2023/24, and will consider availability, affordability, and operational feasibility.
The Defence Energy and Environmental Strategy (DEES):
First published in 2017 and renewed in 2020 (to 2023), the DEES provides a clear vision and identifies concrete targets to improve environmental performance and sustainability across defence activities.
Key Themes:
Energy efficiency
Climate change
Sustainable real property
Green procurement
The DEES 2021-2022 Results Report was published on October 7, 2022. It allows Defence to support the Government of Canada to meet the commitments set out in the 2019-22 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS) and implement changes outlined in SSE. The targets in the DEES contribute to the Greening Government, Healthy Wildlife Populations, and Safe and Healthy Communities goals in the FSDS.
Some results from the DEES 2021-2022 Results Report include:
National Defence achieved a 35.9% reduction in GHG emissions in buildings and commercial light-duty vehicle fleet relative to a 2005 baseline. This was achieved against a target of 40% reduction of GHG emissions from federal government facilities and fleets below 2005 levels by 2030.
Departments committed to develop measures to reduce climate change risks to asset, services, and operations by 2022. National Defence is on-track to complete the adaptation risk assessment framework by March 2023.
An additional target was to use 100% clean electricity by 2025. 74% of electricity consumed across carbon grids was clean energy.
