Managing Collaborative Arrangements: A Guide for Regional Managers

Annex D2 - Climate Change Action Fund - Proposed principles for decision-making and accountability

Climate Change Action Fund: Proposed Principles for Decision-Making and Accountability (abbreviated)

The Ministers of Environment and Natural Resources have lead responsibility and accountability for the Climate Change Action Fund. The key underlying principles are:

• No funding component or block is independent from the other

• A common framework will apply to funding decisions in each funding block

• Criteria to guide funding decisions in each block will be developed by Core ADMs, reviewed by the DM Committee and approved by Ministers

• A work plan with milestones for each funding block will be developed by Core ADMs, reviewed by the DM Committee and approved by Ministers

Ministers will delegate through departmental delegation instruments the authority to initiate, commit, spend, and pay for climate change initiatives. Ministers may delegate decision on the approval of specific funding proposals to DMs and ADMs:

• All funding proposals will be reviewed by Core ADMs and where responsibility has been delegated, decisions rendered

• All other funding proposals, after review by the Core ADMs, will be submitted to DMs for decisions (as delegated), with certain proposals forwarded to Ministers for oversight

• Each funding proposal will be accompanied by a business case; the level of detail of the business case will vary according to the dollar amount of the proposal

Ministers and DMs will receive regular reports on the status of funding.

A reserve of $ X million will be held back in each fiscal year. Core ADMs will develop recommendations on the allocation of the reserve across funding blocks for decision by DMs.

The Climate Change Secretariat will provide regular and annual reports to the Ministers of NRCan and DOE on the CCAF's major achievements and usage of appropriate funds. It will also be responsible for contributing to Central Agency reports (e.g., RPP, Annual Performance Report).

NRCan or DOE will develop a Memorandum of Understanding for use with participating departments to govern the main elements of CCAF arrangements.