NATO EPWG allies unite in Ottawa to advance environmental protection and climate initiatives

June 30, 2025 – Defence Stories

From June 10-12, the National Capital Region Officers Mess hosted the Panels Away Meeting of the NATO Environmental Protection Working Group (EPWG). This group is a standardization working group under the NATO Military Committee Joint Standardization Board. Some 20 delegates from NATO nations, Allied Command Operations, Military Engineering Center of Excellence and Climate Change and Security Center of excellence (CCAS COE) worked together on topics focused on environmental protection training, doctrine & terminology, climate change and security and outreach.

The group was welcomed on behalf of the Department of National Defence by Mr. Saleem Sattar (former Director General Environment and Sustainable Management (DGESM)), who emphasised current geopolitical challenges and the importance of interoperability and standardization in the current Canadian deployment in Latvia. Mr. Sattar also presented the “four C´s” that are a constant in current National Defence environmental protection: compliance, contamination, conservation and climate change. Mr. Sattar emphasized that incorporating environmental protection requirements early in the defence acquisition process is crucial. This approach helps avoid liability issues and design changes later on, ultimately reducing costs and ensuring operational readiness.

In response to Mr. Sattar’s welcome address, Mr Jeroen Rottink of the Netherlands Ministry of Defence, Material & IT Command and current Chair of the EPWG, underlined the important and ongoing contributions of Canada to environmental protection in NATO. Canada provides the only full-time military EP-specialist in NATO Allied Command Operations (Belgium). In the EPWG, Canadian delegates continue to play an active role, taking on several duties in the group thus carrying a considerable part of the burden of work for the Allies.

An important part of the three-day meeting was dedicated to work of the Environmental Protection Climate Change & Security Specialist Team. This team is co-chaired by Dr. Lloyd Chubbs, from the Canadian Joint Operations Command, and Mr. Victor Bernaud of the NATO Climate Change and Security Centre of Excellence in Montreal. Significant progress was made to identify the linkages between Environmental Protection and the four pillars of the NATO Climate Change and Security Action Plan.

The meeting highlighted the power of a standardized approach to environmental protection in NATO and the collaborative approach to promote interoperability across the alliance.

Submitted by:

Dr. Lloyd Chubbs, CJOC JEngr Env

Mr. Jeroen Rottink, NLD Defence