In accordance with the Cabinet Directive on Strategic Environmental and Economic Assessment, this public statement of environmental and economic effects has been prepared for the renewal of the Polar Continental Shelf Program.
Summary
NRCan received funding to maintain the Polar Continental Shelf Program's operations in providing logistics support for scientific research and the exercise of sovereignty in Canada’s Arctic and surrounding waters, and to make capital investments to address deferred maintenance in the program’s aging and rapidly deteriorating infrastructure (that is, roof repairs, and generator and water/sewer tank replacements) at the Arctic Logistics Hub in Resolute Bay, Nunavut.
The Strategic Environmental and Economic Assessment found that the overall environmental impacts of the Polar Continental Shelf Program renewal are likely to be net positive.
Strategic environmental analysis
Although the Polar Continental Shelf Program is expected to generate greenhouse gas emissions from its operations, the program’s mandate and objectives include:
- contributing to the body of knowledge of the impact of climate change on the Arctic
- leveraging efficiencies at every opportunity, including sharing of aircraft and flights, testing and piloting new equipment in the field (for example, solar panels for energy production at remote field camps to reduce diesel use, energy efficient tents, electric snowmobiles)
These efforts can ultimately result in emissions reductions over the longer term.
The Polar Continental Shelf Program operates in Canada’s North, which is experiencing accelerated impacts from climate change and is increasingly vulnerable to multiple climate hazards (for example, extreme heat/heatwaves, flooding, coastal erosion, and wildfires). Although Polar Continental Shelf Program-supported projects vary per year, the program offers logistics support to researchers and in previous field seasons has supported projects that seek to better understand climate change impacts in the Arctic and aim to enhance climate resilience for Northerners.
Federal Sustainable Development Strategy considerations
The renewal of the Polar Continental Shelf Program relates indirectly to several goals and targets of the current 2022 to 2026 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy, in:
- Goal 4: Promote knowledge and skills for sustainable development and the implementation strategy “support knowledge in Arctic and Antarctic” by providing critical logistics support to Arctic science/research
- Goal 10: Advance reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and take action to reduce inequality and the implementation strategy “increase Indigenous employment in the federal public service” by hiring Inuit employees through support to the Inuit Field training program
- Goal 13: Take action on climate change and its impacts and the implementation strategy “continue to implement Canada’s climate plans and actions” by supporting research/science to better understand the changes occurring in the Arctic
In accordance with guidance under the Cabinet Directive on Strategic Environmental and Economic Assessment, this Strategic Environmental and Economic Assessment did not include a strategic economic analysis due to the nature and scope of the proposal.