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Sustainable Development Strategies

The following table reports on progress made by National Defence towards the commitments made in the fourth iteration of the Defence Sustainable Development Strategy. A certain number of these commitments also support the federal Greening Government Operations agenda. These departmental commitments are coordinated by the Office of Greening Government Operations (OGGO) at Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC), which includes work toward common governance, measurement, and reporting methods across departments.


National Defence
Points to Address Departmental Input
1. SDS Departmental Goal: The four overarching Strategic Commitments aim to:
  • move toward a framework of land use management designed to encourage innovative approaches to the stewardship of those lands with the ultimate goal of putting the lands with which Defence is entrusted on a "steady state" footing of sustainability;
  • actively promote the application of innovative sustainable infrastructure principles and concepts and share "lessons learned" with the broader federal community;
  • implement a proactive and comprehensive "Green Procurement" programme across Defence, meeting the recently promulgated Federal Government Policy on Green Procurement; and
  • actively and innovatively prevent negative environmental impacts of specific activities over which Defence can exercise a mitigating influence.

Defence SDS 2006 looks further out than the three-year cycle of the strategy itself. The Strategic Commitment on sustainable military training areas, for instance, spans the period 2003 to 2010 continuing its support of resource conservation, sound environmental stewardship and good governance. Defence is the government's largest employer and consumer of goods and services and is one of the largest landholders. As such, the Department acts in compliance with the Government of Canada's administrative and governance policies, legislation and regulations, and contributes to broader government priorities through responsible stewardship of the assets with which it has been entrusted.

2. Federal SD Goals including GGO goals: In addition to the traditional Strategic Commitments contained in the Defence strategy, SDS 2006 also contains four Monitoring Commitments (commitments to report on government priorities, such as water consumption) and three legacy Targets (targets that were not met in SDS 2000 or SDS 2003, but on which we continue to report). Sixteen Strategic Commitments are set out in Table 1 of the Defence SDS 2006 supporting these key goals.
3. SDS Departmental Results for fiscal year 2008-09: Issues have been raised regarding the completion of a number of lagging commitments this year to ensure that all commitments are completed by the end of the SDS 2006 cycle. All commitments will be closely monitored including following up with the individual sites that are lagging.
4. Supporting Performance Measures: The following outputs/outcomes are imbedded in each of the four overarching Strategic Commitments as found below:
  1. Move toward a framework of land use management designed to encourage innovative approaches to the stewardship of those lands with the ultimate goal of putting the lands with which Defence is entrusted on a "steady state" footing of sustainability;
    • SC.1.1. Measuring the sustainability of military training areas and managing them accordingly; and
    • SC.1.2. Developing urban forest policies, and implementing Urban Forest plans at all affected bases.
  2. Actively promote the application of innovative sustainable infrastructure principles and concepts and share "lessons learned" with the broader federal community:
    • SC.2.2. Improving our understanding of the feasibility of "bundled" Energy Performance Contracts and sharing the lessons learned with our federal colleagues; and
    • SC.2.1. Expanding the integration of the Green Building concept into the total design process.
  3. Implement a proactive and comprehensive "Green Procurement" programme across Defence, meeting the recently promulgated Federal Government Policy on Green Procurement:
    • SC.3.1. Supporting the federal Green Procurement agenda;
    • SC.3.2. Developing and integrating where appropriate Green Procurement modules and messages into all existing training;
    • SC.3.3. Eliminate or reduce 30% of specified nationally procured high-risk hazardous materials (HRHM) from use by 31 March 2010 from a baseline of 31 March 2007;
    • SC.3.4. Acquiring, using and maintaining greener vehicles;
    • SC.3.5. Reducing vehicle GHG emissions by 15% within the commercial pattern on road vehicle departmental fleet by 31 March 2010;
    • SC.3.6. Piloting a managed print solution; and
    • SC.3.7. Minimizing the environmental liability associated with bulk petroleum fuel storage infrastructure and distribution assets.
  4. Actively and innovatively prevent negative environmental impacts of specific activities over which Defence can exercise a mitigating influence:
    • SC.4.1. Reducing disposal of waste fuel by 31 March 2010;
    • SC.4.2. Reducing the long-term impact of releases to the environment by: Increasing the recovery of lead by 5% from 2003/2004;
    • SC.4.3. Reduce the contaminated sites liability by 7% per year from a baseline of 31 March 2006;
    • SC.4.4. Reducing the weight of halocarbons by 5% in in-service systems and equipment as expressed by their Ozone Depletion Potential per year by 31 March 2010 from a baseline of 31 March 2004; and
    • SC.4.5. Reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 134.9 kilotonne carbon dioxide equivalent by 2010 from 1998 baseline.
5. Achieved SDS Departmental Results for fiscal year 2008-09: For the second year of reporting on SDS 2006:

One Strategic Commitment has been met:

  • SC.3.1. (Supporting the federal Green Procurement agenda);

Eleven Strategic Commitments are on track:

  • SC.1.2. (Developing urban forest policies, and implementing Urban Forest plans at all affected bases);
  • SC.2.2. (Improving our understanding of the feasibility of "bundled" Energy Performance Contracts and sharing the lessons learned with our federal colleagues);
  • SC.3.2. (Developing and integrating where appropriate Green Procurement modules and messages into all existing training);
  • SC.3.3. (Eliminate or reduce 30% of specified nationally procured high-risk hazardous materials (HRHM) from use by 31 March 2010 from a baseline of 31 March 2007);
  • SC.3.4. (Acquiring, using and maintaining greener vehicles);
  • SC.3.5. (Reducing vehicle GHG emissions by 15% within the commercial pattern on road vehicle departmental fleet by 31 March 2010);
  • SC.3.7. (Minimizing the environmental liability associated with bulk petroleum fuel storage infrastructure and distribution assets);
  • SC.4.2. (Reducing the long-term impact of releases to the environment by: Increasing the recovery of lead by 5% from 2003/2004);
  • SC.4.3. (Reduce the contaminated sites liability by 7% per year from a baseline of 31 March 2006);
  • SC.4.4. (Reducing the weight of halocarbons by 5% in in-service systems and equipment as expressed by their Ozone Depletion Potential per year by 31 March 2010 from a baseline of 31 March 2004); and
  • SC.4.5. (Reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 134.9 kilotonne carbon dioxide equivalent by 2010 from 1998 baseline).

Four Strategic Commitments are lagging:

  • SC.1.1. (Measuring the sustainability of military training areas and managing them accordingly);
  • SC.2.1. (Expanding the integration of the Green Building concept into the total design process;
  • SC.3.6. (Piloting a managed print solution); and
  • SC.4.1. (Reducing disposal of waste fuel by 31 March 2010).

None of the three SDS 2000 Legacy targets, also pursued during SDS 2003, were met:

  • SDS 2000 target A.3. (Develop and implement Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Plans at all Bases /Wings);
  • SDS 2000 target B.1. (Develop and implement Hazardous Material Management Plans at all Bases/Wings/Organizations); and
  • SDS 2000 target D.1. (Implement Environmental Management Systems).

Source: Assistant Deputy Minister (Infrastructure and Environment) Group