ARCHIVED - Environment Canada

As of October 2007 (last funding announcement), SDTC had completed ten funding rounds and allocated a total of $279 million. This amount will be leveraged with an additional $670 million in contributions from private and public project partners, for a total project value of $949 million. Of these contributions, some 82 percent will come from private sources. According to SDTC, the projects it has funded since 2002 have an estimated potential to reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by 13.7 megatonnes by the end of 2010.

SDTC holds two rounds of funding each year (January and August), initially requesting Statements of Interest (SOI) from applicants. Contract announcements are made about nine months after the acceptance of SOIs. In 2008 and 2009, funding allocations are targeted at around $200 million each year with annual project disbursement payments projected to be $50 million in 2008 and $75 million in 2009.

SDTC publishes a corporate plan in November of each year which describes plans for the current year and provides a forecast for the following year. It includes a disbursement plan, planned administration expenditures, objectives and proposed actions, an investment update, operating strategy, and performance expectations. The SDTC Annual Report and a summary of the corporate plan are tabled in the House of Commons by the Minister of Natural Resources, usually in July or August.

www.sdtc.ca/en/news/Executive_Summary-2008.pdf

The intent of the GMF is to encourage investment in environmental municipal infrastructure. Specifically, the priorities of the fund are 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.

The GMF is co-funded equally by Natural Resources Canada and Environment Canada which manage the fund at arms' length, creating a strong partnership between the FCM and the Government of Canada. The FCM Board of Directors, formally designated as the decision-making body for the funds, is advised by a 15-member council with five federal appointees. The Council plays a key role, supported by the FCM secretariat and the GMF Peer Review Committee.

Created in Budget 2000 with an endowment of $125 million, the Green Municipal Funds were doubled in Budget 2002 with an additional $125 million, consisting of the GMEF and the GMIF.

The $50 million GMEF has provided grants to support feasibility studies to increase municipal expertise and knowledge of leading-edge environmental technologies and practices. The $200 million GMIF has provided loans and loan guarantees to leverage municipal investment in innovative environmental infrastructure projects.

Budget 2005 announced $300 million of additional funding to the GMF in fiscal year 2004-2005.

With Budget 2005, the GMEF and GMIF were merged into one fund known as the Green Municipal Fund (GMF), combining the $250 million from the old GMF with the new $300 million into a revolving fund. This fund supports grants, loans and loan guarantees and is consistent with the purpose and intent of the original agreements. Of the total amount in this fund, $150 million is to be used exclusively to provide loans for the clean-up and redevelopment of brownfields.

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 percent of eligible costs available for projects with exceptional environmental benefits.

The NCC works with a cross-country network of local ecologists and volunteer scientific advisors to help set priorities for conservation work. Part of the approach is to draft conservation blueprints for Canada's natural geographic regions. These help identify priority landscapes where NCC and its partners can focus their conservation efforts. The blueprints also document the sites that, if conserved, would secure the long-term survival of viable natural species and community types of the ecoregion.

The NCC is now close to completing conservation blueprints for each of Canada's southern ecoregions, which will be used to highlight core areas for conservation and set goals for how much land should be conserved in order to ensure sustainability in the long term.

A key result is that NCC is moving toward targeting entire landscapes for conservation in order to ensure sustainable conservation at the scales appropriate to the needs of the species and habitat needing conservation.

• provide relevant scientific information to support federal policymaking;
• generate better knowledge of climate change and its impacts on the natural environment;
• provide results to help Canada respond to its international environmental commitments; and
• ensure a supply of skilled human resources to meet future environmental challenges.

The CFCAS supports efforts to:

• understand our climate system, high-impact weather, air quality and ocean-atmospheric interactions;
• improve weather predictions;
• generate skilled human resources; and
• provide scientific information to support federal policymaking and service delivery.

The CFCAS is currently preparing a report to Canadians on the science of climate change. It continues to support projects as well as major group and networked initiatives, stimulate research in priority areas, foster work on the impacts of our changing climate and encourage multidisciplinary research.

The research funded by CFCAS is increasing Canada's intellectual resources in climate and atmospheric sciences through training and retention of researchers, helping generate and disseminate relevant new knowledge, increasing the transfer of scientific findings to stakeholders and raising Canada's scientific profile internationally. Benefits include better information to support policy development, improved operational forecasting, better adaptation to climate changes and more effective management of climate-related risks.

• Establish and implement technical committees in marine/aquatic, terrestrial, education and community development to provide support and recommendations for approval of community-based initiatives.
• Improve outreach to communities to facilitate better understanding and participation in the work of the Clayoquot Biosphere Trust.
• Maintain current funding initiatives and explore other funding sources to maximize community benefits through educational scholarships, project funding, and collaborative partnerships.
• Pursue targeted initiatives and partnerships to provide significant community benefits and provide opportunities to develop collaborative ventures.