Archived: Departmental Performance Report supplemental tables 2014-15, Environment Canada, chapter 3

Up-front Multi-year Funding

• Clayoquot Biosphere Trust
• Green Municipal Fund
• Nature Conservancy of Canada
• Sustainable Development Technology Canada

Clayoquot Biosphere Trust

General Information

Strategic Outcome

Canada’s natural environment is conserved and restored for present and future generations

Link to department’s Program Alignment Architecture

Program 1.3 Sustainable Ecosystems and Sub-Program 1.3.3 Community Engagement

Name of recipient

Clayoquot Biosphere Trust

For more information, please visit the Clayoquot Biosphere Trust site at www.clayoquotbiosphere.org

Start date

February 2000

End date

In perpetuity

Description

Creation of an endowment fund for the Clayoquot Biosphere Trust (CBT), which is the cornerstone of the Clayoquot Sound 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.

Comments on variances

CBT funding transfer completed in 2000. No new planned/actual spending.

Significant audit findings by the recipient during the reporting year, and future plan

A financial audit is conducted annually, most recently in April 2015, and no concerns were identified.

Significant evaluation findings by the recipient during the reporting year, and future plan

An evaluation is currently being performed and is expected to be completed in September 2015.

Summary of results achieved by the recipient

During 2014-15, the CBT achieved the following objectives and deliverables:

• Hosted a 24-member delegation from the Canadian Commission for UNESCO to discuss the themes of peace, reconciliation, and sustainability, as well as learned about local scientific, educational, and cultural initiatives.
• Developed a research plan based on the conservation framework used by the BC Ministry of Environment to classify threats and identify research priorities, and set guidelines for assessing priority research funding proposals.
• Released the biennial Vital Signs report and continued community health monitoring in support of ongoing reporting.
• Provided a total of $119,000 to 29 projects and scholarships supporting youth, First Nations communities, and scientific research throughout the region.

Note: CBT funding transfer was completed in 2000. No new planned/actual spending.

Green Municipal Fund

General Information

Strategic Outcome

Threats to Canadians and their environment from pollution are minimized

Link to department’s Program Alignment Architecture

Program 3.2 Climate Change and Clean Air and Sub-Program 3.2.3 Environmental Technology

Name of recipient

Green Municipal Fund (GMF)

For more information, please visit the GMF site.

Start date

February 2000

End date

In perpetuity

Description

The Green Municipal Fund (GMF) is a $550-million revolving fund administered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) that supports grants, loans and loan guarantees to encourage investment in municipal environmental projects. The Government of Canada endowed the FCM with a total of $550 million for this initiative through a series of budget decisions from 2000 to 2005.

The GMF was established to have a positive impact on the health and the quality of life of Canadians by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) 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. An amount of $150 million is to be used exclusively to support brownfield remediation and redevelopment.

The amount of GMF financing available to municipalities is directly related to the environmental benefits and/or innovation of the projects undertaken, with grant/loan combinations of up to 80% of eligible costs 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’s role is to assist the FCM Board of Directors - the decision-making body for the GMF - in approving projects proposed by municipalities. The 15-member GMF Council includes five federal members: two from Environment Canada, two from Natural Resources Canada and one from Infrastructure Canada. All federal members are appointed by the FCM Board of Directors based on recommendations from the Minister of the Environment.

Environment Canada peer reviewers provide the GMF and federal council members with expert environmental science and technology advice and evaluate funding proposals.

Summary of results achieved by the recipient

The 2014-15 GMF Annual Report is expected to be available shortly on the FCM website.

According to the 2013-14 GMF Annual Report, since the inception of the GMF in 2000, the FCM has committed to provide $735 million to support 1,040 environmental initiatives in 495 communities across Canada. Of the initiatives funded to date, 180 have been capital projects, of which 53 have reported environmental results. Together, these 53 capital projects have:

• Reduced annual GHG emissions by approximately 350,000 tonnes per year;
• Reduced air contaminant (criteria air contaminants or CACs) emissions by over 400,000 kilograms per year;
• Diverted from landfill over 140,000 tonnes of waste per year;
• Recovered over 70 hectares of previously unusable land;
• Improved the quality of over 50,000 cubic metres of soil
• Treated over 144,000,000 cubic metres of water and wastewater; and
• Reduced water consumption by over 300,000 cubic metres annually.

As of March 2014, FCM approved the following amounts for municipal environmental projects:

• $3.7 million in grants to plans, studies and tests
• $50.4 million in loans and grants to capital projects
• $3.8 million in loans for brownfields projects

Funding committed to plans, studies and tests is lower than the $6 million target because of a temporary reduction in demand for grants. This reduction in demand was a result of changes to funding criteria, which came into effect in 2012 to address excess demand for GMF funding.

Funding uptake in the brownfields category remains low as Canada’s brownfields industry faces a range of barriers, including perceptions of risk, which hinder progress on redevelopment projects.

Comments on variances

GMF funding transfer completed in 2005. No new planned/actual spending.

Significant audit findings by the recipient during the reporting year, and future plan

There are no audit findings for 2014-15. The Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development is currently scoping the audit of Federal Support for Sustainable Communities. This audit may include EC’s participation in supporting GMF.

Significant evaluation findings by the recipient during the reporting year, and future plan

There has been no evaluation of the GMF during 2014-15, and there are none planned for the future.

Note: GMF funding transfer was completed in 2005. No new planned/actual spending.

Nature Conservancy of Canada

General Information

Strategic Outcome

Canada's natural environment is conserved and restored for present and future generations.

Link to department’s Program Alignment Architecture

Program 1.1 Biodiversity - Wildlife and Habitat and Sub-Program 1.1.4 Habitat Conservation Partnerships

Name of recipient

Nature Conservancy of Canada

Start date

March 2007

End date

March 2015

Description

The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) works to ensure the long-term protection of biodiversity by working with private landowners to secure and steward ecologically significant lands that have been identified as priorities for conservation. The NCC acquires and preserves private land primarily through land purchase, land donations, conservation agreements, relinquishment of rights, and stewardship actions. It also ensures support for the ongoing management and restoration of the habitat it secures. The goal of the program was to secure 218,000 ha of private land for conservation and implement stewardship actions, such as priority conservation actions and monitoring of conservation agreements on an estimated 55,000 ha of land secured under the Program.

Comments on variances

The original $225 million of this conditional grant was fully accounted for in the 2006-07 fiscal year. The additional $20 million was fully accounted for in the 2013-14 fiscal year. The NCC expended on its planned activities based on its approved workplan.

Payments made under the grant are calculated within the Conservancy's fiscal year, which commences on June 1^st. As per the federal government’s fiscal year (starting April 1^st), instalments under the grant were $70.2 million in 2007-08; $46.1 million in 2008-09; $29.3 million in 2009-10; $21.7 million in 2010-11; $33.7 million in 2011-12; $24.0 million in 2012-13 $11.2 million in 2013-14 and $8.8 million in 2014-15.

Significant audit findings by the recipient during the reporting year, and future plan

A financial audit, dated May 31, 2014, was conducted by Ernst & Young and accompanied the submission of the program’s seventh annual progress report, spanning April 1, 2007 to May 31, 2014. The audit indicated the revenue and expenses as of May 31, 2014 for the NCC and Other Qualified Organizations and was deemed satisfactory. Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) did not invoice NCC during the seventh year of the program and thus no independent DUC financial audit was prepared. The final annual progress report including financial audits dated May 31, 2015, is expected from the NCC in early fall 2015.

Significant evaluation findings by the recipient during the reporting year, and future plan

The seventh annual progress report spanning April 1, 2007, to May 31, 2014, was received from the NCC in December 2014 and was deemed to be satisfactory, having met the expected results of its approved work plan.

The findings from the 2012 program evaluation were addressed in the 2013 amended funding agreement, and the NCC began implementing the recommendations and management response in 2014-15.

In 2014-15, a broader evaluation of Environment Canada’s Habitat Conservation Partnerships Program was undertaken. This evaluation included the Natural Areas Conservation Program (NACP). Results of the evaluation will be finalized in 2015-16.

Summary of results achieved by the recipient in 2014-15

As of the end of March 2015, the NCC had drawn the full $245 million under the federal allocation of the available NACP funding. As of March 31, 2015, the NCC and its partners had raised more than $240 million in matching funds and pledges from private and other public sources and had received donations of conservation lands and easements valued at more than $165 million from private landowners. This comes to a total of over $405 million, which surpasses the NCC’s requirement. The NCC and its partners have secured more than 398,000 ha of land through more than 1,100 land transactions. These lands are found in every province and provide habitat for at least 174 species at risk. In addition, stewardship actions were carried out on more than 168,000 ha within priority natural areas secured under the Program.

Sustainable Development Technology Canada

General Information

Strategic Outcome

Threats to Canadians and their environment from pollution are minimized

Link to department’s Program Alignment Architecture

Program 3.2 Climate Change and Clean Air; 3.2.3 Environmental Technology; 3.2.4.1 Sustainable Development Technologies

Name of recipient

Sustainable Development Technology Canada

Start date

March 26, 2001 for the Sustainable Development Technology Fund (SD Tech Fund^TM) and April 1, 2007 for the Next Generation Biofuels Fund (NextGen Biofuels Fund^TM or NGBF)

End date

March 31, 2022 for the SD Tech Fund^TM and September 30, 2027 for the NGBF.

Description

Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) is a not-for-profit foundation created by the Government of Canada to finance and support solutions to issues related to climate change, clean air, and water and soil quality and that deliver economic, environmental and health benefits to Canadians. As sponsoring departments for the federal government, Environment Canada and Natural Resources Canada provide federal oversight of SDTC to ensure that it complies with funding agreements and founding legislation. The Minister of Natural Resources is responsible for reporting to Parliament on SDTC.

SDTC manages two separate funds:

• The SD Tech Fund^TM provides financial support to projects that have the potential to advance sustainable development, including technologies to address climate change, clean air, and water and soil quality issues; and
• The NGBF provides financial support towards the establishment of facilities producing next generation renewable fuels at large demonstration scale.

To date, the SD Tech Fund^TM has received $550 million in Government of Canada funding (up-front multi-year grants), with an additional $40 million announced in Budget 2011 and $325 million announced in Budget 2013. Beginning 2015-16, all transfers to SDTC will be in the form of contributions.

The Government budgeted a total of $500 million in combined appropriated and statutory funds for the NGBF.

Comments on variances

$12.5M in transfer payments to the SD Tech Fund™ have been reprofiled to future years. $25M in unneeded appropriations for the NGBF were returned to the fiscal framework and $79M in available statutory funding for the NGBF was not needed.

Significant audit findings by the recipient during the reporting year, and future plan

The last evaluation of the NGBF was completed by Robinson Research and submitted to Environment Canada and Natural Resources Canada on November 30, 2012. No evaluation was completed for 2014-15. The next evaluation is expected in 2017-18.

Significant evaluation findings by the recipient during the reporting year, and future plan

The last evaluation of the NGBF was completed by Robinson Research and submitted to Environment Canada and Natural Resources Canada on November 30, 2012. No evaluation was completed during the 2014-15 year. The federal government may choose to evaluate the SDTC at any time to determine whether it is meeting its objectives. An evaluation of SDTC is scheduled for the 2017-18 fiscal year and will begin during 2016-17.

Summary of results achieved by the recipient

SD Tech Fund^TM

SDTC has been disbursing funds to eligible recipients on an as needed basis and, in 2014,^Footnote 1 disbursed $55.6 million to eligible recipients. As reported in SDTC’s 2014 Annual Report, 66 completed projects reported annual actual GHG emissions reductions of approximately 4.5 megatonnes in 2014. The total annual GHG emissions reduction in 2015 attributable to projects funded by SDTC is projected at between 6 and 12 megatonnes.

NextGen Biofuels Fund^TM

SDTC has been disbursing funds on an as-needed basis and provided $584,000 to project proponents in 2014. Demand for funding has been lower than expected largely due to a market in which next generation biofuels are not economically competitive.