Sustainability  Return  on  Investment  Presenta4on  to  the  Green  Municipal  Fund  

October  25,  2013  by  

Background  •  Berkeley,  California  (BER)  •  Calgary,  Alberta  (CAL)  •  Edmonton,  Alberta  (EDM)  •  Denver,  Colorado  (DEN)  •  Halifax,  Nova  ScoCa  (HAL)  •  Hamilton,  Ontario  (HAM)  •  Helsinki,  Finland  (HEL)  •  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin  (MIL)  •  Niagara  Region,  Ontario  (NIA)  •  North  Vancouver,  BriCsh  Columbia  (NVAN)  •  Portland,  Oregon  (POR)  •  Vancouver,  BriCsh  Columbia  (VAN)  •  Victoria,  BriCsh  Columbia  (VIC)  •  Washington,  DC  (WAS)  

Edmonton  Project    

•  How  Best  to  Embed  and  Catalyze  Sustainability  Principles  in  Culture  to  Achieve    Desired  Outcomes?  

•  Best  PracCce  Scan  of  Leading  North  American  MunicipaliCes  

•  What  Were  CriCcal  Success  Factors  for  the  Leaders!!!  

Key  Findings  •  SCll  Struggling  with  Cultural  

Acceptance  of  Sustainability  •  “Decision  Support  Tools  Needed”        

Background  •  “If  we  had  $150  million  to  invest  in  legacy  funds  for  the  community  that  would  help  address  economic  development  and  new  revenue  sources  for  the  City,  how  would  I  convince  Council  to  invest  it  in  a  sustainable  community  energy  project  verse  for  example  shave  and  pave?”    Jeff  Fielding,    CAO  City  of  Burlington.      

Background  “We  are  looking  at  developing    a  simple,  cheap,  and  easy  to  use  tool  that  helps  us  make  be\er  decisions  and  allows  us  to  determine  the  sustainability  return  on  investment  of  infrastructure.”    James  Parvey,  Senior  Principal  Engineer,  City  of  Tacoma,  Washington    

Project  Overview  http://www.llga.org/call.php?idCall=27  

Background  “We  have  done  pilot  evaluaCons  for  social  return  on  investment  of  our  social  housing  and  return  on  investment  of  our  green  buildings  but  it  focused  mainly  on  environmental  returns.    What  we  need  is  a  simple  tool  that  we  can  use  to  demonstrate  all  3  pillars  at  once  to  Council.”    Carolyn  Bowen,  Manager,  Office  of  Sustainability,  City  of  Calgary  

CEC  Project  Team  Members    Leaders  in  SROI    

 

Statement  of  Need  

A  simple,  open  sourced,  and  accessible  SROI  tool  for  Canadian  MunicipaliCes  does  not  currently  exist.  Such  a  tool  would  create  a  common  approach  to  SROI  that  would  allow  for  municipaliCes  to  benchmark,  collaborate  on  reporCng  and  on  data  availability  and  collecCon  issues,  as  well  as  provide  consistency  in  communicaCons  to  the  public  and  senior  levels  of  government.  

Proposed  ObjecCves  1.  Develop  an  inexpensive  tool  that  could  be  uClized  by  Canadian  

MunicipaliCes    that  will  provide  a  consistent  and  replicable  approach  to  determining  Sustainability  Return  on  Investment  (1st  order  esCmates);      

2.  Increase  capacity  of  municipaliCes  and  others  in  the  use  of  such  a  SROI  tool;  and,    

3.  Create  a    standardized  and  replicable  source  of  data  for  the  tool  that  can  be  used  by  Canadian  municipaliCes  as  well  as  by  other  senior  levels  of  government.    

Possible  Deliverables  Discussions  with  Calgary  led  to  the  following  proposed  deliverables:  •  A  report    on  the  current  state  of    SROI  uClizaCon  in  North  America;  •  A  report  on  municipal  needs  for  an  SROI  tool;  •  Terms  of  reference  and  design  criteria  for  the  development  of  the  tool  

with  recommendaCons  on  how  to  proceed;  •  A  detailed  work  plan  for  the  design  and  development  of  the  SROI  tool;    •  A  beta  test  of  the  SROI  Tool;  •  A  report  on  beta  test  of  the  tool  and  recommended  revisions;  •  A  final  operaConal  municipal  SROI  tool;    •  A  central  accessible  database  on  cosCng  informaCon  for  infrastructure  and  

other  relevant  social,  economic  and  environmental  data.    Regionally  applicable  standards,  measures  and  indicators  assembled  throughout  the  project  duraCon;    

•  A  resource  guide  on  the  use  of  SROI  and  the  Tool;      •  Delivery  of  a  capacity  building/training  workshop(s)  for  project  partners.      

PotenCal  Partners  •  P3  Canada  •  Infrastructure  Canada  •  Infrastructure  Ontario  and  Other  

Provincial  Departments  •  Canadian  AssociaCon  of  Municipal  

Administrators  •  North  American  Urban  Sustainability  

Directors  Network  •  InsCtute  for  Sustainable  Infrastructure  •  Chief    Financial  Officers  Network  •  Canadian  General  Accountants    •  NGO’s  •  MunicipaliCes  •  Private  Sector    

Status  of  Calgary  Proposal  •  Feedback  on  esCmated  budget  provided;  •  Money  this  fiscal  year,  want  to  move  now;  •  Moving  to  develop  an  RFP  to  seek  a  contractor;  •  Interested  in  further  discussions  and    partnerships  with  FCM;    

•  Idea  for  FCM  to  build  on  what  Calgary  creates;  •  Request  made  for  CEC  to  arrange  call.  

Considera4ons  for  FCM      Having  GMF  as  a  collaborator/leader  on  this  iniCaCve  would  provide  the  

following  strategic  benefits  to  FCM:  1.   Provide  the  Green  Municipal  Fund  with  a  tool  it  can  use  to  determine  the  

sustainability  return  on  investment  of  funded  projects;  2.  Provide  GMF  with  an  opportunity  to  posiCon  itself  as  a  leader  in  building    

capacity  for  a  strategic  knowledge  gap  idenCfied  by  municipaliCes  in  raising  the  municipal  bar  in  North  America;  

3.  Provide  GMF  with  a  standardized  tool  that  (a)  would  allow  for  seamless  uClizaCon  for  applicants;  (b)  allow  for  a  standardized  sustainable  infrastructure    indicator  and  measurement  framework  to  be  used  by  municipaliCes  creaCng  more  reliable  and  accurate  benchmarking;  

4.  Inclusion    and  use  in  any  proposed  federal  long-­‐term  infrastructure  plan;    5.  Others?  

Discussion  Feedback/Ques4ons  

About  Cowan  Environmental  Consul4ng    Cowan  Environmental  Consul1ng  specializes  in  providing  innova1ve  assistance  and  

advice  for  your  organiza1onal  needs  related  to  sustainability  and  environmental  programs  and  services.  Our  business  focus  is  in  finding  prac1cal  local  and  cost  effec1ve  solu1ons  to  today’s  most  pressing  environmental  issues.      Our  mission  is  to  work  with  organiza1ons  and  businesses  that  truly  see  the  value  in  the  concept  of  sustainability  and  are  interested  taking  advantage  of  the  benefits  that  are  possible  when  decisions  are  made  using  a  social,  economic  and  environmental  lens.  We  want  to  work  with  organiza1ons  to  remove  sustainability  roadblocks  and  produce  leading  edge  prac1cal  programs  and  tools  to  create  success  in  whatever  our  clients  are  striving  to  achieve.  Organiza1ons  are  standing  on  the  cusp  of  a  new  way  of  doing  business,  a  new  way  of  making  choices.  If  your  organiza1on  is  ready  to  make  sustainability  a  key  aspect  of  your  business  then  we  want  to  work  with  you.      

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