Archived: Departmental Plan 2019 to 2020, supplementary tables, Environment and Climate Change Canada, chapter 5

Up-front Multi-year

• Clayoquot Biosphere Trust (CTB)
  
• Green Municipal Fund (GMF)

Clayoquot Biosphere Trust

For more information, please visit the Clayoquot Biosphere Trust (CBT) site.

Start date

February 2000

End date

In perpetuity

Link to Program Inventory

Water Quality and Ecosystems Partnerships and Community Eco-Action

Description

Creation of an endowment fund for the CBT, which is the cornerstone of the Clayoquot Sound United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Biosphere Reserve. The CBT will use the income from the endowment fund to support local research, education and training in the Biosphere Reserve region.

Total funding approved

$12 million

Total funding received

$12 million (in 2000)

Planned funding in 2018−19

$0.0

Planned funding in 2019−20

$0.0

Planned funding in 2020−21

$0.0

Summary of annual plans of recipient

During 2019-20, the CBT will focus on the following objectives and deliverables:

• Deliver a range of grants for regional initiatives in the areas ofresearch and environment; arts and culture; community development; and youth and education. The fifth Biosphere Research Award will be offered for research that advances understanding of conservation challenges in the marine and/or terrestrial ecosystems and prioritizes conservation actions.
• Communicate the 2018 Vital Signs report throughout the region and host a series of Vital Conversations to discuss the data presented within the biennial indicator monitoring snapshot. The report aligns local data and stories with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals as a means of tracking progress towards national and global goals.
• Collaborate with the District of Tofino and Vancouver Island Regional Library to make steps towards developing a social purpose, mixed-use building to serve as a permanent Biosphere Centre for communities, organizations, and researchers.
• Develop, coordinate and market education tourism programs utilizing the West Coast NEST (Nature. Education. Sustainability. Transformation.) online hub in order to diversify the local tourism economy, broaden labour-force skills, and increase the number of youth employed in businesses.
• Continue to coordinate and instruct the annual Sustainability in the Biosphere field course in partnership with Royal Roads University and local knowledge holders.
• Deliver a range of healing and reconciliation events and workshops with the goal to recognize our unique strengths, shared history, cultural diversity to continue the work of reconciliation within communities, between communities and with the land.Begin preparations for the 2020 UNESCO Periodic Review by compiling data and stories that showcase the evolution and impact of the UNESCO Biosphere designation and the CBT from 2010 - 2020.

Green Municipal Fund (GMF)

For more information, please visit the Green Municipal Fund (GMF) site.

Start date

February 2000

End date

No end date

Link to Program Inventory

Clean Growth and Climate Change Mitigation

Description

Between 2000 and 2018, the Government of Canada endowed the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) with $675million to administer a revolving fund for grants, loans and loan guarantees to encourage investment in municipal environmental projects.

The GMF was established to have a positive impact on the health and the quality of life of Canadians by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving local air, water and soil quality and promoting renewable energy by supporting environmental studies and projects within the municipal sector. Eligible projects may fall into one or more of the following categories: energy, water, waste, sustainable transportation, brownfields, or integrated community projects.

The amount of GMF financing is directly related to the environmental benefits and/or innovation of the projects undertaken. Grant/loan combinations of up to 80% of eligible costs are available for capital projects with exceptional environmental benefits.

As stipulated in the GMF Funding Agreement between the FCM and the Government of Canada, the FCM has created two advisory bodies: the GMF Council and the Peer Review Committee. The GMF Council assists the FCM Board of Directors—the decision-making body for the GMF—with project approval. The 15-member GMF Council includes five federal members: two from Environment and Climate Change Canada, two from Natural Resources Canada and one from Infrastructure Canada. All ECCC federal members are appointed by the FCM Board of Directors based on recommendations from the Minister of the Environment.

Total funding approved

$337,500,000

Total funding received

$337,500,000

Funding in 2019−20

$0

Planned funding in 2020−21

$0

Planned funding in 2021−22

$0

Summary of annual plans of recipient

GMF’s 2019-2020 Annual Statement of Plans and Objectives (ASPO) is expected to be available in February 2019. The GMF’s 2018-19 ASPO states the following:

Grants for sustainable community plans, feasibility studies and field tests: After March 31, 2009, the FCM must aim to commit $6 to $8 million in grants for sustainable community plans, feasibility studies and field tests. In fulfillment of this requirement, the FCM is aiming to approve a total of $6 million for plans, feasibility studies and field tests in 2018-19.

Loans and grants for capital projects: The 2018-19 ASPO indicates that the FCM is aiming to approve $50 million in loans for capital projects in all sectors, and $5 million in grants for capital projects in the energy, transportation, waste and water sectors.

Performance measures:

To measure and demonstrate the qualitative, quantitative, short-term and long-term success of the GMF, the planned activities for 2018-19 include the following:

• Empower innovation: focus on addressing the risks that municipalities and private-sector partners face when they try to adopt new and innovative solutions.
• Accelerate the replication of proven sustainable solutions: enhance the replication rate and mobilization of promising new solutions emerging from GMF.
• Create a roadmap of the municipal sector’s challenges and solution pathways: develop roadmaps to show municipalities how to achieve their overall sustainability objectives in each GMF focus subsector (i.e. energy, transportation, water, waste and land use and planning).
• Establish the business case for and economic benefits of sustainable solutions: deliver appropriate analysis and knowledge tools to support municipalities in their decision-making and due diligence around sustainable solutions.
• Be responsive to clients’ needs: establish a central advisory service system to optimize the benefits of GMF’s funding offers and the related processes, and help it respond to its clients’ needs.
• Leverage and mobilize GMF’s knowledge, decision tools and capacity-building support for planning and executing sustainable projects: outline a holistic approach to capacity building that enables GMF to address gaps.
• Collect and develop data to help direct the efforts of the municipal sector and its partners: FCM will collect data and make it available so that municipalities, GMF and its partners have the information they need to identify sustainability areas that easily address and have significant environmental and economic impact.
• Attract capital and investments to the municipal sustainability sector (lever investments) and help municipalities access funds and identify new revenue streams: better position the municipal sector to receive additional investments and stretch their budgets further.
• Ensure GMF’s sustainability and maximize its influence: ensure the endowment’s sound management in the long term while ensuring that it has the financial resources required to fulfill its mandate.
• Inspire municipalities and their partners by defining, recognizing and communicating the successes, lessons learned and triple bottom line benefits of sustainable solutions: better position GMF to communicate the key ingredients in successes as well as lessons learned.
• Maintain excellence in governance, due diligence, project funding and oversight while balancing risks with returns: development of a performance measurement system that will articulate GMF’s sector contributions and the progress it makes toward delivering on its mandate and ensuring optimal results from its operations.