April 13, 2026 [Hamilton, Ontario] – The Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care and MaRS Discovery District proudly mark the completion of the Decarbonization in Action: Implementing Climate Solutions in Canadian Hospitals pilot project.
Made possible through the generous support of the Peter Gilgan Foundation, this project worked with hospitals and hospital networks across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) to evaluate, prioritize, and advance decarbonization opportunities across buildings, clinical activities, and organizational processes, including procurement.
To assist hospitals in reducing their greenhouse gas (GHG) footprints, the Decarbonization in Action team provided dedicated implementation support for hospitals, while also supporting impact amplification of innovative, low-carbon clinical solutions, and creating opportunities for peer-learning and cross-hospital collaboration.
Health care contributes approximately 4-5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, making the sector both part of the problem and a critical part of the solution.
The Decarbonization in Action project shows that hospital decarbonization is not only possible, but is already being advanced by passionate sustainability champions. This project highlights a major opportunity to improve health system performance while reducing environmental impact.
Results of the Pilot
The Decarbonization in Action program supported more than 25 hospital decarbonization initiatives, largely through the evaluation of the greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction potential and cost-benefit analysis. The support initiatives—ranging from developing methodology guidance for supply chain emissions accounting to creating customized GHG calculators to evaluate reusable options over single-use items across clinical settings—represent a potential of over 1,550 tCO2e of avoided emissions. A particular area of focus for the pilot project was reducing the environmental footprint of hospitals’ clinical activities.
In addition to developing engineering and technical resources to assist hospitals with evaluating and prioritizing decarbonization opportunities, other highlights of the project include:
- Hosting a sustainable health care event attended by 110+ health system sustainability champions as part of the inaugural Toronto Climate Week in October 2025.
- Developing a decarbonization “brightspot” video on Unity Health Toronto’s central acid delivery system, a more sustainable hospital dialysis solution that saves 95,000 litres of acid and $85,000 a year, while also preventing an estimated 28 tonnes of GHG emissions annually.
- Building a beta version of the Solutions Atlas, a catalogue of low-carbon and resilient health system solutions designed to help hospitals identify and implement proven decarbonization strategies. The Atlas which will be officially launched later in 2026.
This project revealed that many frontline staff are highly engaged on sustainability topics, and they often support green initiatives from the side of their desks. They need more dedicated technical guidance, leadership support, and funding to implement well-established low-carbon solutions and realize the full potential of these opportunities. Many initiatives supported by the Decarbonization in Action project team reinforce the point that improved patient care, operational efficiency, and emissions reduction often go hand-in-hand. Read more about some of these initiatives here.
To access the many resources and tools developed during the course of the project, please visit the Decarbonization in Action project site at: https://greenhealthcare.ca/project/accelerating-decarbonization/
Quotes from Project Partners
“Completing the Decarbonization in Action pilot marks an important step forward for sustainable health care in Canada. This project showed that, with the right tools, practical guidance, and opportunities for shared learning, hospitals can move from climate ambition to implementation while still delivering cost effectiveness and patient-focused care. We are proud of what our partners achieved together and excited to build on this momentum to support even more hospitals on their sustainability journey across the country.”
– Dr. Myles Sergeant, Executive Director, Canada Coalition for Green Health Care.
“MaRS has a long-standing commitment to advance climate and health innovation in Canada, and the Decarbonization in Action pilot project demonstrates how collaboration across hospitals, innovators, and system leaders can turn promising solutions into real-world impact. It’s encouraging to see practical pathways emerging to reduce emissions in our hospitals while improving the quality and performance of our health system.”
– Tyler Hamilton, Senior Director, Climate, MaRS Discovery District.
“There is already strong momentum for climate action in health care, driven by passionate staff and clinicians who see opportunities to integrate sustainability into their work. While solutions exist, their implementation is often limited by capacity and coordination. The Peter Gilgan Foundation is proud to support the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care and MaRS, who work directly with hospital staff to help bridge these gaps and unlock meaningful progress on decarbonization across the health system.”
– Lucy Lu, Program Manager, Climate Change, Peter Gilgan Foundation.
Scaling Hospital Decarbonization
The Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care continues to work with hospitals across Canada to accelerate the implementation of climate solutions.
Ongoing Coalition initiatives include the following:
- Preparing Canada’s Health Care Buildings for Net-Zero, which aims to accelerate the readiness of the Canadian health care workforce and leadership to undertake climate change mitigation initiatives in health care buildings.
- Circular Clinical Care: Single-Use Plastics Reduction, which aims to reduce single-use plastic usage within Canadian health care facilities by advising on reduction, reuse, recycling, and storage options.
- Through a partnership with Accreditation Canada and the Health Standards Organization (HSO), the Coalition is helping hospitals identify opportunities for more sustainable practices through updated green hospital standards.
Hospitals and health systems interested in accelerating their decarbonization efforts are encouraged to connect with the Coalition.
The Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care is Canada’s premier green health care resource network leading the transition to environmentally sustainable and climate-resilient practices. www.greenhealthcare.ca
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Contact:
William Gagnon, Director of Implementation
+1 514 996 6284