Combermere, Ontario, March 27, 2025 – The Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care (the Coalition) proudly marks the successful completion of the first year of the ‘Preparing Canada’s Health Care Buildings for Net-Zero’ project.
Supported by the Government of Canada’s Low Carbon Economy Implementation Readiness Fund, this initiative is equipping health care organisations with the required tools to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across hospitals, health centres, clinics, and long-term care homes.
Key focus areas include implementing low-carbon energy solutions, installing renewable energy technologies, establishing in-house green teams to further sustainable practices, eliminating nitrous oxide (N20) emissions, and switching from metered dose inhalers (MDI) to low-carbon inhalers.
To assist organisations in their transition to net-zero, the project team has created a number of informative Environmental Stewardship Guidebooks, crafted for multiple health care settings and specialty departments including intensive care units, cardiology, radiotherapy and developing health care greenspaces and gardens. These free downloadable guides provide actionable strategies for boards, executive leaders, and clinical staff to enhance sustainability.
Adding to the many new capacity-building guidebooks are a series of nation-wide educational webinars and training sessions that are helping to increase the sector’s readiness to adopt emissions-reducing initiatives. These are in addition to three new networking hubs that have been launched to foster collaboration, knowledge sharing, and drive internal change toward sustainability.
“The Hubs were conceived with an understanding of the importance of being able to dialogue and learn with people engaged in similar work,” says Coalition Low Carbon Energy Advisor, Alex Hutton. “These interactive sessions have attracted strong attendance already and we expect that to grow as we continue to co-evolve the structure and format with participants to maximize value they can gain.”
The Green Team Networking Hub is designed to empower health care sustainability champions to connect, collaborate, and lead transformative change across Canada’s health care sector through bi-monthly online meetings.
For those with an interest in low carbon, the Low Carbon Energy Networking Hub provides monthly sessions led by Alex Hutton, helping health care professionals develop customized low-carbon energy plans.
Launching this April, the Clinics Networking Hub invites clinic-based professionals to share best practices in reducing costs, improving health outcomes, and minimizing environmental impacts. The inaugural meeting is scheduled for late April 2025, and interested individuals are encouraged to sign up now: https://forms.gle/CXhApoHR7tRY7sRd9.
Building on year one’s momentum; the Coalition is expanding outreach to more health care facilities across Canada. Future efforts will focus on integrating renewable energy solutions, enhancing energy efficiency, and promoting sustainable procurement practices.
To access the many free resources and sign up for the network hub participation, visit the ‘Preparing Canada’s Health Care Buildings for Net-Zero’ project site at: https://greenhealthcare.ca/net-zero-ready/
The Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care is an alliance of committed Canadian health service organisations, associations and environmentally focused partners driving positive ecological change within Canada’s health care landscape. www.greenhealthcare.ca
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Contact:
Kent Waddington
Communications Director
Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care
