AMS Sustainability, Office of the Vice-President Finance
Lighter Footprint
Strategy Review
Proposal
Prepared by | Jennifer Sun
Sustainability Coordinator
January 8, 2014
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Table of Contents
1
Background.............................................................................................................................................................3
2
Purpose and Objectives ....................................................................................................................................3
3
Scope of Review....................................................................................................................................................4
4
Proposed Process ................................................................................................................................................4
5
Resources Required............................................................................................................................................5
6
Timeline ...................................................................................................................................................................5
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1
Background
The AMS recognized its responsibility to reduce and eliminate any negative social and
ecological impacts of our operations and activities. Furthermore, the AMS recognized its
responsibility to actively improve the social and ecological environments in which we
work. For this reason, AMS Council passed an Environmental Sustainability Policy in
January 2007 that called for the creation of a sustainability strategy for the AMS, which was
submitted on March 10, 2008 as the AMS Lighter Footprint Strategy.
The AMS recognizes that there are three important pillars to sustainability: ecology, society
and economy. We believe that these three pillars should be considered together because
attempts to minimize the current environmental crisis must include a consideration of how
we can create a more just and equitable society and how we can use our economic
resources responsibly and ethically to support those objectives.
Due to limited resources and high turnover, we decided to divide the task of creating the
initial comprehensive sustainability strategy into manageable parts. In the past five years,
this strategy has served as the principle guidelines for AMS operations in becoming more
sustainable. This proposal aims to improve the current standards set forth by the Lighter
Footprint Strategy by technical review of target statuses and feasibility, followed by
recommendations for an updated strategy document for usage in the next five years. Upon
the allotted lifespan of the updated strategy, a new proposal will follow to conduct a similar
review and update as this proposal. This will help to improve metrics for achieving
ecological sustainability and to amend any shortcomings in the previous version for how
the AMS can become a more environmentally sustainable organization.
2
Purpose and Objectives
The purpose of this review is to revise the current AMS Lighter Footprint Strategy to better
suit current operational standards, and to provide measurable guidelines and best
practices for a sustainable organization. The objectives of this review are:
To compare current operation standards against the existing Lighter Footprint
Strategy
To review achievements in accordance with the Strategy to date
To formulate new goals and metrics for sustainable development in the AMS moving
forward
These objectives will be achieved by consultation of various stakeholders and desktop
information, followed by developing strategic recommendations as per the proposed
processes below.
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3
Scope of Review
Areas of work and consultation include:
Proposal of revisions to the AMS Lighter Footprint Strategy Targets section
Consultation with relevant departments to bring forward a feasible action plan
Consultation with campus sustainability initiatives to ensure that the University and
the AMS have aligned views and goals on sustainable development
Consultation with student sustainability groups to better understand what the
student community would like to see from their sustainability representatives at the
AMS
Final revisions of the AMS Lighter Footprint Strategy to submit for council approval
The stakeholders for consultation include:
AMS VP Finance
AMS Communications Manager
AMS Designer
AMS Food and Beverage Manager
AMS Director of Operations
AMS New SUB Coordinator
Student sustainability clubs
University Sustainability Initiative
UBC Social Ecological Economic Development Studies (SEEDS) Program
Other stakeholders identified through consultation with above
4
Proposed Process
A thorough review of each Target in the Lighter Footprint Strategy will be conducted firstly
as a desktop review by the AMS Sustainability Coordinator. This will include background
scientific research supporting the goals of each target, review of past work and reports
completed for the purpose of implementing the Strategy, and review of other documents
pertinent to the scope. This will help to shape the progress map of current operations and
how it aligns or conflicts with the current Strategy. The updates will be brought to Council
as an Interim Report on the progress of the Strategy.
With the progress to date, new targets and metrics will be proposed by the Sustainability
Coordinator, which will be brought to each stakeholder for review. Suggestions and
feedback from stakeholder meetings will be considered, and the new targets and metrics
will be updated to reflect each consultation and the concerns of each department and
group. This will ensure that both voices from internal to the AMS and external will be
heard and incorporated into a Strategy that continuously works for all affected parties.
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Once the new targets and metrics have incorporated stakeholder feedback, it will undergo
a final review by the Sustainability Coordinator and then will be brought to Council seeking
approval. Upon approval, the revised Strategy will be considered the new guidance
document for sustainable development within the AMS.
5
Resources Required
The main resources required will be staffing, and is readily available from AMS
Sustainability with both the Sustainability Coordinator and the Sustainability Assistant
Coordinator. Other resources include access to past reports and relevant documents,
which will be found internally and on the UBC SEEDS library.
6
Timeline
The timeline for this review will follow the proposed process, and aims to complete the
revised Strategy submission on a Council meeting date before the end of April 2014.
Phase I
Desktop Review and New
Target Proposals
January 8, 2014
Phase II
Stakeholder
Consultation Process
January 8 - March 1,
2014
Phase III
Final Submission to
Council
End of April/Start of
May
Phase IV
Communication and
Implementation
May 2014 onwards
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