Deputy Minister transition binder 2023: Science and Technology

Science and Technology Branch (STB) overview

• Under the Department of the Environment Act and the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999, ECCC is both mandated and enabled to conduct environmental research on a range of issues
  • STB science is also foundational to administering other key acts, including the Species At Risk Act and pollution prevention provisions of the Fisheries Act
• STB is the largest and leading environmental research institution in Canada
• Diversified, scientific workforce of ~1,500 FTEs in 34 offices across Canada
• Collaborative work with science leaders in Canada and abroad:
  • Productive relationships with many research institutions, including in academia
  • ~800 peer-reviewed publications annually, most including at least one collaborator
  • ~64% of peer-reviewed publications are open access
• STB budget (2022-23): $226.7M, including O&M, salary, G&C, and capital

STB offices/facilities across Canada

STB vision and mission

Vision

Decisions are evidence-informed by the latest science that responds to environmental challenges facing Canadians

Mission

To provide holistic scientific knowledge, data and tools needed to enable ECCC’s policies, programs and services to provide a clean, safe and sustainable environment for Canadians

Equity, inclusion and diversity

STB’s diversity and inclusion working group aims to create a safe and positive space for open dialogue towards more positive behavioural, institutional, and policy change

• DG-level branch EE staffing committee
• Engaging with PSC and other science-based departments on EE within scientific classifications,
• Created an Indigenous Science Division

Science principles

• Relevance
• Transparency
• Responsiveness
• Excellence
• Collaboration

ECCC S&T organizational model compared to other science-based departments/agencies

Department/Agency	S&T branch that does all or most of the science?	Lead scientist or science advisor role?	Notes
ECCC	Yes	ADM S&T, Departmental Science Advisor	Most science done by STB, but also in other branches (CWS, MSC), at 34 environmental science centres across Canada
NRCan	No	Chief Scientist, Departmental Science Advisor	Science conducted within six different department sectors (e.g., Lands and Minerals, Energy Efficiency and Technology, Strategic Policy and Innovation, Canadian Forest Service) at facilities across Canada
AAFC	Yes	ADM Science, Departmental Science Advisor	Science focused in the S&T Branch, with work done at 20 R&D centres and 30 satellite locations across Canada
DFO	No	ADM Science, Departmental Science Advisor	Strong regional structure to S&T; science conducted within department sectors (e.g., Ecosystems and Oceans Science, Aquatic Ecosystems) at 17 facilities across Canada
NRC	No	Chief Digital Research Officer, Chief Science Officer and Departmental Science Advisor (one position for all)	Research is the core mandate of the organization; science is conducted throughout various NRC divisions (e.g., Digital Technologies, Life Sciences, Transportation and Manufacturing) at facilities across the country

Organizational structure

STB funding overview

• Federal priorities increasingly demand new research to keep pace with emerging issues, many dependent on STB research, monitoring, assessment, and analysis
• STB science is foundational to departmental priorities, policy and regulatory development, decision-making and measuring progress
• Funding is crucial to maintain and enhance STB’s leadership in federal science

STB funding breakdown by departmental priority (ARLU January 2022)

Priority	STB funding breakdown by departmental priority
	A-Base	B-Base	VNR
Conserving Nature	$9,854,238	$5,977,277	$260,000
Predicting Weather and Environment Conditions	$10,182,177	$3,126,995	$153,585
Preventing and Managing Pollution	$108,072,721	$13,880,225	$15,284,022
Taking Action on Clean Growth and Climate Change	$28,213,687	$8,724,388	-

Science and advice to inform and support

• STB science informs policy, regulations, programs, and operations in ECCC, across the Government of Canada, and beyond, both domestically and internationally
• STB products include publications, data, models, and recommendations to foster discussions on policy needs and science advice.
• A Science Strategy and improved Science Advice Governance will support the mobilization and evolution of STB’s science resources.

The unique role of STB science

• STB’s science contributes to 18 of ECCC’s 39 mandate letter commitments
• In some areas, STB has the only capabilities or mandate in the country to do the research required, such as:
  • STB’s Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis developed Canada’s only climate model
  • Environmental modelling (hydrology, ocean, sea ice, atmospheric processes) to support Canada’s weather and environmental prediction services
  • National-scale and long-term air, water, soil, and wildlife monitoring programs
• STB research and monitoring contribute to key international science initiatives, reinforcing Canada’s credibility and reputation as a science leader. Examples:
  • Target 7 (reducing pesticides risks) of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
  • Arctic Council/Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP)
  • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
  • World Climate Research Program Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP)
  • Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)
  • Global Atmospheric Watch Programme for black carbon and aerosol reporting
  • UNFCCC National Inventory Report
  • Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement

STB science priorities

Taking action on clean growth and climate change

• National Inventory Report
• Modelling and analysis informs regulatory reporting requirements and improves climate services
• Processing and analysis of atmospheric variables informs climate policies and adaptation actions
• Contributions to scientific assessments inform international climate change negotiations
• Canada’s Black Carbon Inventory
• Canada’s official inventory of greenhouse gas sources and sinks
• Strategic planning guides Canadian climate change science and mitigation actions to address Canada’s 2030 and 2050 emission reduction targets
• Canadian Focal Point for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Predicting weather and environmental conditions

• Modelling and analysis improves critical services (e.g., high impact weather prediction and flood forecasting)
• Research to improve severe weather detection and prediction

Preventing and managing pollution

• Monitoring and modelling to strengthen Canada’s negotiation position for international agreements
• Chemicals Management Plan
• Science to improve air quality, reduce impacts of air pollution, and provide Canadians with tools to make informed decisions to reduce exposure to air pollutants
• Research to inform emergency preparedness and response to oil spills, reduction of GHG emissions from oil sands tailing ponds, and provincial and municipal initiatives to implement nutrient reduction strategies
• Canada’s Zero Plastic Waste Agenda

Conserving nature

• Research to enable risk assessments for endangered whales, support assessments of cumulative effects of Canada’s oil sands, and inform identification and designation of new protected areas
• Wildlife impact assessments to inform regulation and enforcements under SARA
• Science advice and research to inform management and ecosystem health of federal protected areas
• Science to help mitigate environmental and potential health threats from virulent wildlife diseases
• Research to inform nature conservation, protection of endangered species, marine emergency preparedness and response, and provision of legislated departmental expert information (e.g., IAA, CEAA 2012)

STB science advice and services

Science management and other supports

• Indigenous science knowledge exchange and Indigenous science-policy bridging
• Knowledge mobilization and science communications
• ECCC Open Science Action Plan
• Science capacity development (e.g., Youth Horizons Program)
• Science advice and input to policy
• Fostering domestic and international partnerships
• Accredited analytical support and systems to support inventory reporting
• Input to Budget, MC, and TBSub asks
• ECCC Policy on Scientific Integrity

Regulation and enforcement

• Products and tools
• Testifying on non-compliance cases
• Regulatory authority (e.g., entry of new substances into Canadian commerce)
• Monitoring and surveillance of chemicals of concern
• Regulation development

Risk assessment

• Ecosystem and wildlife impact assessments
• Ecological risk assessment of existing substances

Collection, integration and transmission of data and information

• Atmospheric monitoring of greenhouse gases (GHG) and air quality, including GHG inventories and data
• National Inventory Report
• Value-added long term atmospheric data sets
• Environmental and wildlife, long term water quality, and microbiological monitoring
• Habitat and ecosystem mapping
• Canada’s Black Carbon Inventory
• Canada’s Air Pollutant Emissions Inventory and pollutant data to the National Reporting Inventory

Research and modelling

• Research on measurement technology, pollutant processes, climate processes, Arctic climate processes, air quality, wildlife, ecosystems, aquatic ecosystems, chemicals of concern, contaminated sites, and plastics
• Numeric modelling development and analysis
• Issue identification and emerging science
• Method development and innovation

STB science enables clients

Program delivery

• Oil Sands Monitoring Program to understand the effects of oil sands development on the environment and assess cumulative effects
• Freshwater Action Plan to conserve and enhance ecosystems
• Reporting on GHG emissions and storage
• Species at risk recovery strategies, action plans, regulatory development and legislation
• Long term monitoring for reporting on water quality and aquatic ecosystem health
• Assessing effectiveness to programs to reduce acid rain
• Chemicals Management Plan

Operations and service

• Monitoring and research to deliver weather forecasting, the Air Quality Health Index, the UV index, Ice Services and Climate Services
• Contaminated sites
• Environmental emergencies

Policy

• GHG and air monitoring inform adaptation actions
• Informed climate change policy domestically and internationally
• Wildlife research and monitoring inform policy and framework development (e.g., One Health, Cumulative Effects, SARA)
• Microplastics and nanoplastics efforts, genomics
• Contributions to national inventories and impacts to decision making on clean growth and climate change, preventing and managing pollution
• Science Integrity, Indigenous Science, Open Science, Labs Canada and others

Regulation and enforcement

• Research, accredited testing methods, defensible scientific evidence supporting enforcement actions
• Research to inform harvest management, bird-human conflicts, species recovery
• Research, advice and action planning for species assessment, recovery planning, and multi-species planning
• Long-term monitoring of aquatic environments

Spotlight: Indigenous science at STB

• Indigenous science is a distinct, time-tested, and methodological knowledge system that that provides a long-term, wholistic approach and can enhance and complement western science
• Under the leadership of Dr. Myrle Ballard, an Anishinaabe scholar from the University of Manitoba, the new Indigenous Science Division (ISD) in STSD is developing and applying an important Indigenous lens to ECCC science, policy, and programs through Dr. Ballard’s new Three-Eyed Seeing Framework
• The mandate of ISD is to bridge, braid, and weave Indigenous science with western science approaches to inform and enhance decision-making
• The establishment of ISD is part of the federal government’s commitment to walk the path of reconciliation and follows a call to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada that Indigenous ways of knowing be included in both government and academia

Strategic planning for STB science and advice

• STB is updating the department’s Science Strategy (2014-2019)
  • Aim to set and guide ECCC’s next science vision, with cross-cutting science goals, priorities and core values. Will have clear links to the Departmental Results Framework
  • Rooted in ECCC’s Policy on Scientific Integrity; STB’s approach to bridging, braiding and weaving with Indigenous Science; and the STB Action Plan on Diversity and Inclusion
• Key to the Science Strategy, STB is advancing (in tandem) a Science Advice Governance Framework to facilitate strategic discussions of science advice and information needs, direction-setting, and triage of priorities
• The draft Science Strategy and Science Advice Governance Framework are being developed and socialized with departmental colleagues in winter/spring 2023

Key takeaways and next steps

• Federal priorities demands foundational scientific information and new and innovative research
  • STB partners span the federal government, various sectors of the economy, and international efforts
• STB is on the cutting edge of new federal environmental priorities and research including:
  • Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
  • National Adaptation Strategy
  • Climate Science 2050 Implementation
  • National Inventory Reporting (supporting Paris Agreement Implementation)
  • Freshwater Science Agenda
  • Circular economy for plastics science
  • Super-computing, AI/ML to support environmental
  • Pesticide management
  • Nature-Based Climate Solutions
  • Open Science
  • Weaving Indigenous and Western Science
  • Genomics
  • Federal Earth Observation Strategy
  • Renewed CEPA Implementation (Bill s.5)
• ECCC’s continued leadership on foundational science to deliver Government’s environmental protection priorities will be important for achieving goals and monitoring our progress

Annex

1. Additional information on STB structure and activities

Science to support the departmental results framework and other departments’ initiatives

2. STB business lines

Atmospheric Science and Technology Directorate

Director General: Nathalie Morin

Activities focus on:

• Atmospheric measurements of the physical and chemical properties of the atmosphere, including the ozone layer, and long-term monitoring of air pollutants, GHGs and air toxics.
• Vehicle and engine emission research and testing in support of compliance verification and enforcement.
• Investigating anthropogenic and natural emissions impacts on climate and air quality, and affects on human and ecosystem health.
• Advancing the understanding of the climate system and how changes will affect weather and air quality to inform the development of adaptation and mitigation strategies.
• Increasing knowledge of earth systems (e.g., atmosphere, ocean, waves, ice, land) to improve weather and environmental forecasts and climate predictions and projections.
• Providing scientific evidence that underpins, for example, the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP), Chemicals Management Plan (CMP), the Methane Strategy, Met Services for the Arctic, International fora and agreements (e.g., UNFCCC, IPCC, WMO, Gothenburg Protocol, Minimata Convention, Can-US Air Quality Agreement).

Science and Risk Assessment Directorate

Director General: Jacqueline Gonçalves

Activities focus on:

• Carrying out research, assessment and monitoring and information-gathering activities on existing and new substances
• Understanding, quantifying, collecting, analyzing and reporting on environmental releases of pollutants, toxic substances, and emissions/sinks of greenhouse gases by sources to monitor performance and inform policy
• Conducting activities to support CMP, PCF, the Air Quality Management System, the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan, multilateral obligations and compliance with international conventions
• Developing of regulatory instruments under CEPA

Science and Technology Strategies Directorate

Director General: Matthew Cloutier

Activities focus on:

• Lead on science policy planning advice and strategies to ensure effective management of ECCC’s S&T in alignment with government priorities (e.g., Emissions Reduction Plan, National Adaptation Strategy, Open Science, Scientific Integrity)
• Integrating and disseminating ECCC’s S&T knowledge to facilitate its use by decision-makers and science users
• Applying an Indigenous lens to ECCC science, policy, and programs to inform and enhance decision-making through the work of the new Indigenous Science Division
• Advancing strategic partnerships with other Science-Based Departments and Agencies, academia, and international partners to enable collaborative science and policy initiatives in the service of shared mandates and priorities
• Convening science experts and users at national level to advance multi-disciplinary collaborative science across departments, including representatives from academia and the private sector (e.g., for Climate Science 2050 implementation)

Water Science and Technology Directorate

Director General: Joanne Volk

Activities focus on:

• Water quality monitoring (physical, chemical and biological) to report on water quality and aquatic ecosystem health including Marine water quality monitoring as part of the Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program
• Research to better understand, assess, and predict the fate, transformation and effects of contaminants, excess nutrients, climate change and hydrology changes on aquatic ecosystems
• Laboratory support, including specialized chemical, biological, toxicological, and genomic analyses, for research, monitoring, and enforcement investigations
• Research and “24-7” scientific support to respond to environmental emergencies, including fate and behaviour expertise and spill trajectory modelling
• Activities support ecosystem initiatives (e.g., Great Lakes, Lake Winnipeg, St. Lawrence River, Lake of the Woods); oil sands monitoring; Oceans Protection Plan; Northern Contaminants Program; Chemicals Management Plan; climate change and air pollutants studies; Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators; genomics; climate change adaptation; emergencies and enforcement
• Prioritize, align, and enhance freshwater science and knowledge in Canada

Wildlife and Landscape Science Directorate

Director General: Patrice Simon

Activities focus on research and advice on:

• Species at Risk, migratory birds, climate change, cumulative effects, and protected areas to support conservation and management decisions
• Development of ecosystem assessment and prediction approaches to support conservation, species protection, and responsible resource development
• Application of Earth Observation and spatial analysis in conservation and species protection
• Monitoring ecotoxicology and wildlife health to assess the impacts of contaminants and other stressors on wildlife and ecosystems
• Activities support the Species at Risk Act; Chemicals Management Plan; Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan; adaptation; Great Lakes Action Plan; Northern Contaminants Program; Climate Change Action Plan; Oceans Protection Plan; Canadian Environmental Protection Act; environmental assessment; identification of protected areas (marine and terrestrial); and international agreements (e.g., Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme)