Minutes | Meeting of the Strategic Planning Committee of the Board (SPC) | 13 February 2024

SPC Attendees: Maarten Botterman – Co-Chair, Chris Chapman – Co-Chair, Alan Barrett, Edmon Chung, James Galvin, Wes Hardaker, Christian Kaufmann, Leon Sanchez and Katrina Sataki

Other Board Members: Catherine Adeya and Harald Alverstrand

SPC Apologies: Chris Buckridge, Becky Burr and Danko Jevtovic

Executive and Staff Attendees: Margaret Benavides (Planning Manager), Franco Carrasco (Board Operations Specialist), John Crain (SVP & Chief Technology Officer), Samantha Eisner (Deputy General Counsel), Breda Lund (Editorial Supervisor, Global Communications), Becky Nash (VP, Planning), David Olive (SVP, Policy Development Support & Managing Director- Washington, D.C.), Laena Rahim (Associate General Counsel, APAC), Ergys Ramaj (VP, Public Responsibility Support) and Victoria Yang (Senior Manager, Planning)

The following is a summary of discussions, decisions, and actions identified:

The meeting was called to order at 19:00 UTC.

1. Agenda – Maarten Botterman and Chris Chapman (Co-Chairs) established the agenda for the meeting and gave an overview of items to be discussed.
2. Review of SPC Action Items and SPC Workplan – ICANN org provided a brief summary of the status of the activities under the SPC's action items list:
   • Board Strategic Priorities: ICANN org highlighted that a pilot is in progress to map the elements of the committee workplans to Strategic Objective in the Strategic Plan, to enable the SPC to monitor the committees' strategic priorities (using the Organizational Effectiveness Committee (OEC) as the pilot). ICANN org reiterated that the SPC will use the activity reports to kick-off the process, as that is the time when each committee sets out the tasks achieve under their respective workplans. Thereafter, the SPC will map each committee's work map to the strategic objectives. ICANN org will provide an update on this topic to the SPC by end February 2024.
   • SPC Workplan: ICANN org has updated this section to integrate the SPC Workplan for Committee meetings vs working meetings.
   • SPC Charter Revision: The proposed revisions to the SPC Charter have been circulated to the Board Governance Committee (BGC) for its review and recommendation to the Board.
   • Communication Plan for the development of the FY-26-30 Strategic Plan: ICANN org will continue to provide regular updates and progress reports to the SPC on the Communication Plan.

   The SPC workplan was reviewed, which sets out the SPC's scope of responsibilities and relevant timelines for performance of its work. ICANN org and the Co-Chairs will monitor the workplan on a regular basis, to ascertain whether it requires any further modifications to encapsulate the SPC's additional responsibilities.

3. Discussion on ICANN's Environmental Sustainability Strategy – ICANN org provided an overview of this topic. Prior to the meeting, ICANN org circulated the relevant background informational documents related to this topic to the SPC.

   Global environmental concerns prompted discussions among the ICANN Board, community and ICANN org about ICANN's roles and responsibility in understanding and addressing its own ecological footprint. In 2023, the ICANN Board began developing a plan to delve deeper into this issue as part of its role in overseeing ICANN's Strategic Planning efforts. Consequently, the Board asked ICANN's CEO to begin exploring the issue, leading to its integration as CEO Goal 8 - Environmental Sustainability Strategy (initiate the creation of ICANN's Environmental Strategy). In FY24, ICANN org will initiate the development of a comprehensive approach for implementing an environmental sustainability strategy for ICANN.

   ICANN's Environmental Sustainability Vision:
   ICANN org shared that ICANN's vision is committed to promoting the global public interest by minimizing its environmental footprint and promoting sustainable practices across all of its business operations. The Environmental Sustainability Strategy will integrate environmental strategy principles into ICANN's core operations, policies and practices, in collaboration with the ICANN community and other relevant stakeholders.

   ICANN's Environmental Sustainability Principles:

   • Innovation in sustainable operations: pursue innovative solutions to reduce environmental impact across ICANN's business operations.
   • Collaborative engagement: establish and foster partnerships and collaborations for environmental sustainability efforts across the ICANN ecosystem; and empower employees, partners and vendors through policies and practices to prioritize sustainable sourcing.
   • Transparency and accountability: maintain transparency in reporting environmental impacts and ensure accountability for contributions to sustainability.

   
   ICANN's Environmental Sustainability Strategy:

   • Assessment and measurement: conduct a comprehensive assessment of current environmental impact, establishing measurable benchmarks for improvement.
   • Green infrastructure and Operations: implement energy-efficient technologies, optimize resource utilization, and prioritize renewable energy sources across ICANN's operations, where appropriate, with the allocation of financial resources to projects or companies that focus on sustainable practices, environmentally friendly technologies, and the conservation of natural resources.
   • Stakeholder engagement and education: engage stakeholders through education, awareness campaigns, and capacity development initiatives to encourage sustainable practices and innovation within the ICANN ecosystem.

   Responding to a query from the SPC, ICANN org clarified that ICANN's preliminary research included assessing other tech companies, not-for-profits and their operational work; and determined that there are four areas of operation that ICANN org could map against – offices, travel, events and org-wide products/purchases. However, there could potentially be other areas that may be included in the scope.

   In relation to the benchmark/baseline assessment, ICANN org clarified that it would conduct its due diligence to demonstrate that the relevant studies have been conducted to understand the baseline, and to determine the best practices for ICANN's activities. A benchmark/baseline assessment will provide the metrics to enable ICANN to evaluate the environmental impact across ICANN's business operations.

   Maarten reiterated that the SPC is committed to engage with the community on this initiative to seek their input on sustainability efforts and incorporate their feedback, in particular when it comes down to the balance environmental sustainability and effective meetings (travel, location, etc.).

4. Any Other Business
   • ICANN79 in San Juan, Puerto Rico – The SPC to take note of the relevant sessions for the SPC to attend during ICANN79 Prep Week (Board Engagement Session) and at ICANN79.

The Chair called the meeting to a close.