AMS Sustainability, Office of the Vice-President Finance | 1

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