Departmental Results Report 2020 to 2021, supplementary tables: Department of Environment, chapter 4

Clayoquot Biosphere Trust (CBT)

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

• Delivered a range of grants totalling $176,721 for regional initiatives in the areas of research and environment, arts and culture, community development, and youth and education. The fifth Biosphere Research Award was granted for research that advances understanding of conservation challenges in the marine and/or terrestrial ecosystems and prioritizes conservation actions.
• Hosted two Vital Conversations (Sustainable Tourism; Youth) to bring together local stakeholders to discuss local lived experiences and data aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals as a means of tracking progress towards national and global goals.
• Continued to gather baseline data on the sound patterns of wildlife interactions in the Sydney Inlet estuary. Since 2015, over 2,500 hours of audio recordings of the biophony (wildlife), anthrophony (human activity), and geophony (landscape) have been collected from the estuary.
• Purchased a modest property to begin the process of developing a permanent Biosphere Centre in the heart of the Biosphere Region. This social purpose, mixed-use building will serve as a hub for communities, organizations, and researchers.
• Continued to develop, coordinate and market educational tourism programs utilizing the West Coast NEST online hub (westcoastnest.org) in order to diversify the local tourism economy, broaden labour-force skills, and increase the number of youth employed in businesses.
• Delivered the 4th annual Sustainability in the Biosphere field course in partnership with Royal Roads University and local knowledge holders based on the principles of experiential learning and community resilience.
• Prepared for the 2021 UNESCO Periodic Review by compiling ecosystems services data and stories that showcase the evolution and impact of the UNESCO Biosphere designation and the CBT from 2010-20.

Green Municipal Fund (GMF)

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

Between 2000 and 2018, the Government of Canada endowed the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) with $50 million for grants and $625 million for endowment funding to administer a revolving fund for grants, loans and loan guarantees to encourage investment in municipal environmental projects. As per Budget 2019, the Government of Canada transferred through Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) an additional $950 million to the FCM for the GMF new funding streams: Sustainable Affordable Housing (SAH-$300 million), Community Efficiency Financing (CEF-$300 million), and Low Carbon Cities Canada (LC3-$350 million). Since GMF’s inception, the total amount transferred from the Government of Canada for the GMF amounts to $1.625 billion.

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 and energy efficiency 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 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 2019 GMF Funding Agreement between the FCM and the Government of Canada, the FCM has created two advisory bodies: the Green Municipal Fund Council (GMF Council) and the Peer Review Committee. The GMF Council’s role is to advise the FCM Board of Directors—the GMF decision-making body—on GMF governance and projects proposed by municipalities for funding approval. The 18-member GMF Council includes six federal members: two from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), two from NRCan, one from Infrastructure Canada (INFC), and one from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). All ECCC federal members are appointed by the FCM Board of Directors based on recommendations from the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

The 10 ECCC GMF peer reviewers provide the GMF with expert environmental advice on funding proposals.

As mandated by the Funding Agreement between the FCM and Canada, a Five-Year Review and Performance Audit of the GMF was conducted by Ernest and Young over the period from April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2019. The next Five-Year Review and Performance Audit is scheduled to be carried out in 2024.

The 2014-19 Performance Audit assesses efficiency and effectiveness of GMF as well as overall Funding Agreement compliance. The Review evaluates GMF outcomes, design and relevance (i.e. alignment with stakeholder priorities) and the extent to which funding and knowledge services realized social, economic and especially environmental benefits. Together, the reports provide evidence-based insights into the impact and value-for-money achieved by FCM and its partners and offers recommendations for improving the performance of the Fund going forward.

The FCM meets all the key objectives of the Performance Audit and the key requirements of the Review in relation to GMF outcomes, design and relevance. Auditors’ recommendations in relation to Performance Audit include improving systems to quantitatively monitor and report meaningful HR metrics; collecting results from risk self-assessments conducted by each business line to inform the development of an operational risk register; continue developing indicators in the GMF Performance Measurement Framework to enable effective and timely management of decision making; and ensuring that IT transformation initiatives have appropriate oversight to carry out GMF priorities.

Auditors’ recommendations in relation to the Review include beefing up information collection on projects’ social and economic benefits; and improving the alignment of the knowledge sharing and capacity building services with customers’ needs.

Auditors’ recommendations are either already implemented or being implemented.

The 2019-20 GMF Annual Report and Appendices are available on the FCM website.

Since the inception of the GMF in 2000, the FCM has committed to provide $946 million to support 1,360 environmental initiatives in communities across Canada (2019-20 GMF Annual Report).

Environmental impacts since the inception of the GMF:

• Reduced cumulative GHG emissions by 2.7 million tonnes;
• Saved 860,125 gigajoules per year;
• Treated 244,752,512 cubic metres of wastewater and drinking water per year;
• Saved 646,348 cubic meteres of water per year;
• Diverted 173,596 tonnes of waste from landfill per year;
• Managed 191,768 cubic metres of media (soil, groundwater, and sediment); and
• Reclaimed 94 hectares of land.