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Anniversary - Celebrating 25 Years
This year marks a major milestone — 25 years of driving environmental change in Canada’s health care sector! From early workshops and national award programs to hands-on initiatives in energy management and waste reduction, the Coalition has helped shape a greener, more sustainable future for health care.
Along the way, we’ve been fortunate to work with dedicated partners, passionate volunteers, and champions across the country. Whether planning strategy sessions or inspiring change at trade shows and conferences, your collective efforts have fuelled our impact. A heartfelt thank you to everyone — volunteers, partners, and green champions — who helped us get to this milestone.
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Plastics Spotlight - New LinkedIn
A new LinkedIn page has been created to support the Coalition's Single-Use Plastics Reduction Project, aimed at reducing plastic waste in health care facilities across Canada.
The three-year initiative starts with a pilot at Hamilton Health Sciences to develop tailored strategies for reducing, reusing, and recycling single-use plastics. A national campaign will follow the pilot to implement similar initiatives and reduce SUP waste across Canadian hospitals.
Follow along for project updates, resources, and news as we expand this national campaign to promote sustainable practices in hospitals nationwide.
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New Guidebook - Greening the Wards
As a specialty, general internal medicine (GIM) provides care for medically complex, multi-comorbid patients who are particularly vulnerable to the growing health impacts of climate change. With the largest inpatient footprint of any service in the hospital, GIM is uniquely positioned to lead efforts to reduce the significant carbon emissions associated with inpatient medical care. This guidebook offers evidence-based strategies to support climate-conscious practice in general internal medicine. We hope it will serve as both a practical resource and a source of inspiration to help integrate environmental sustainability into your clinic, ward, and department.
The development of this guidebook was made possible with an investment from the Government of Canada’s Low Carbon Economy Implementation Readiness Fund.
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Submissions Open - Green Office Challenge 2025
The Green Office Challenge 2025 is now open for submissions. Take our questionnaire to identify areas of excellence and opportunities to further implement sustainable practices.
We encourage all medial practice offices, regardless of where you are on your sustainability journey, to participate in the questionnaire. Along with our Green Office Toolkit, the questionnaire is a tool to help you learn and implement greener practices while contributing to a more sustainable future.
This opportunity is funded by Canada’s award-winning sustainable technology company, HP, Hamilton Family Health Teams’ Green Initiative, the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care, and PEACH Health Ontario.
| | Award - Coalition Executive Director Honoured with 2025 Humanitarian Award | | |
We are thrilled to share that Dr. Myles Sergeant, Executive Director of the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care, has been awarded the 2025 Humanitarian Award by the Hamilton Health Sciences Medical Staff Association (MSA). This prestigious honour celebrates individuals whose contributions to health care extend beyond hospital walls and have a meaningful impact at local, national, and global levels.
In accepting the award, Dr. Sergeant expressed deep gratitude to nominators Dr. Zahira Khalid and Dr. Tim O'Shea, with whom he collaborated in the early days of the Shelter Health Network and the community Hepatitis C program. He emphasized that the award is a testament to the passion, dedication, and tireless efforts of the volunteers, teams, and mentors who have shaped and supported this work.
We congratulate Dr. Sergeant on this well-deserved recognition and thank the MSA for celebrating his extraordinary contributions to community and planetary health. Congratulations as well to all of this year’s inspiring award recipients.
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Help Us Build a Greener Health System
The Coalition is now a registered charity—marking a major milestone in its 25-year mission to advance sustainability in health care. Donate today to help build a greener, healthier, and more climate-resilient Canada.
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Waste auditor training course
Dates: August 12th to 15th, 2025
Interested in increasing your knowledge in Waste Auditing? Sign up for the next Waste Auditor Training course in August 2025! Space is limited. Last day to register is Monday, July 21st.
Attend the Waste Auditor Training course and receive:
- Waste Auditor Training Certificate
- Two days of in-class instruction
- In person hands-on waste audit
- Copy of Circular Innovation Council Standard Waste Audit Method
- In-class training materials including a printed Workbook and Handbook
- Networking with other waste and auditing professionals
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Yale online climate change and health certificate program for working professionals
The Yale certificate program is designed for all working professionals who require training to understand and address this mounting threat, including those working in public health, medicine and allied fields, mental health, health education, policy, environmental protection, energy, sustainability, government, advocacy, insurance, and other related fields.
Applications are currently open for the Fall 2025 offering! Apply today to ensure your application is considered.
A 10% early-bird discount is available for those in eligible tuition categories who apply by July 18!
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Green hospitals: Maximizing health and climate benefits
ScienceDirect
This publication examines energy efficiency, waste management, water sustainability, supply chain optimization, telemedicine, and biophilic design in health care as interventions to reduce carbon emissions, enhance climate resilience, and improve health outcomes globally.
The framework provides implementation strategies, cross-cutting climate innovations, and explores interconnections between climate-smart health care, health equity, and global sustainability.
The authors conclude that the health care sector can transform from a significant contributor to climate change into a leader in climate mitigation and adaptation, creating a more sustainable, resilient, and equitable global health system.
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Strategic planning for planetary health and sustainable care
CASCADES
The Strategic Planning for Planetary Health and Sustainable Care playbook identifies practices for incorporating climate change considerations and planetary health into organisational strategic plans to support the transition to sustainable, equitable health systems.
Grounded in evidence and illustrated with real-world case studies, this playbook outlines seven actionable organisational practices to embed planetary health and sustainable care into health care strategy. Each section includes practical checklists to support implementation.
Together, these tools provide health care leaders and organisations with a clear path to advance sustainability through strategic planning and systems change.
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A winning recipe for leading organisational change in planetary health – A panel conversation with Sunnybrook’s Green Task Force
CHA Learning
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Listen to this episode of The HQ podcast to explore how entire health care organisations can implement meaningful eco-actions and lead the way in environmental stewardship and sustainability.
In this episode hear from the three Co-Chairs of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre’s Green Task Force: Michael Lithgow, Dr. Susan Deering, and Genny Ng. These leaders share their extensive experiences and insights, demonstrating how Sunnybrook is driving sustainability initiatives and setting an example for others in the health care industry.
Tune in to gain valuable insights on leading organisational change for planetary health and learn how you can contribute to making a positive impact on both human health and the environment.
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Enhancing resilience and sustainable health care supply chains: integrating circular economy and dynamic barrier management
Discover Sustainability
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This study explores how integrating Circular Economy (CE) principles with Dynamic Barrier Management (DBM) can enhance the resilience and sustainability of health care supply chains. Using Bayesian Network modeling, it identifies key barriers—such as supplier performance, logistics, and demand forecasting—and their role in preventing critical product shortages.
The findings show that optimized sourcing and CE integration can significantly improve sustainability (by 14%), resilience (16.7%), and public health outcomes (17.3%). Key supply chain metrics like reliability, responsiveness, and asset utilization also improve. The research offers strategic insights to help health care organisations navigate disruptions while advancing environmental and operational goals.
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AI scribes in Canadian health care: Easing documentation burden, enhancing care
Canadian Journal of Nursing Informatics
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As health care systems across Canada face mounting pressures—from staffing shortages to rising patient complexity—clinicians are increasingly turning to digital tools that can support both care quality and provider well-being. One emerging solution is the AI Scribe, an artificial intelligence (AI) powered tool designed to reduce the burden of documentation in clinical practice.
For nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians, and interprofessional teams, AI Scribes represent more than just a technological convenience—they offer a potential shift in how health professionals engage with patients and manage administrative demands.
| | NEW! RETScreen® Expert Version 9.3 | |
The RETScreen® Clean Energy Management Software Version 9.3 upgrades include a series of new energy efficient plus deep retrofit archetypes for the Virtual Energy Analyzer (VEA). In addition, key new capabilities have been added to the software to facilitate and automate the ongoing commissioning of facilities, and to help implement RETScreen as an Energy Management Information System (EMIS).
Version 9.3 of the RETScreen® Clean Energy Management Software platform is now available for download from the RETScreen website.
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Plastics in health care: Navigating the balance among access, health, and sustainability
Planetary Health Alliance
Date: July 24, 2025
Time: 8:00am-9:30am ET
In August 2025, global leaders will reconvene for INC-5.2 to negotiate a legally binding treaty on plastic pollution, with key focus areas including health impacts, the use of scientific evidence, and the precautionary principle. A central challenge is balancing health care’s reliance on plastics with the need to reduce plastic-related risks. The treaty must ensure equitable access to safe, effective health products while addressing environmental harms. A successful treaty will require a clear research agenda, evidence-based decision frameworks, and inclusive governance.
This workshop hosted by WHO centres will explore frameworks to support these efforts with insights from global experts.
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Strengthening internal organisational capacity for change
CASCADES
Dates: July 24th, 2025
Time: 9:00am PT/12:00pm ET
Internal capacity is key for ongoing implementation, learning, and strategic change.
By developing this capacity, organisations equip their workforce with the skills, knowledge, and tools necessary to promote and deliver sustainable health systems, while sustaining change over time. This ensures that strategies are not only well-crafted but also adaptable and resilient, enabling the organisation to continuously respond to emerging challenges and opportunities.
On July 24th, join CASCADES to hear from health care professionals with experience building internal capacity to advance their sustainability agenda.
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2nd Forum on Healthcare Infrastructure, Atlantic Canada
Canadian Institute
Dates: July 14th – 15th, 2025
Seize the opportunity to connect with leaders in health care facilities planning, construction, design, and clinical operations at the Canadian Institute’s Forum on Healthcare Infrastructure, Atlantic Canada.
This essential event will provide critical insights into project delivery best practices, national and regional trends, and the status of major developments across Nova Scotia, PEI, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Save 10% with the CCGHC promo code: D10-999-CCGHC25
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Transforming Healthcare Together: Empowering Teams, Inspiring Creativity, Unleashing Knowledge
Canadian Healthcare Engineering Society
Dates: September 14th - 16th, 2025
Location: Calgary, Alberta
This national conference attracts leaders from across Canada and around the world in the field of health care facilities design, engineering, operations and maintenance. They also provide opportunities for supplier and corporate representatives to interact with delegates at an industry trade show and in more relaxed social settings at the Sunday Night Opening Reception and the Monday Night President’s reception, dinner, and awards banquet.
Member Rates and Early Bird Discount available (deadline July 31st).
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Have you registered as an organ donor?
Contact your local organ donation agency and speak to your family about your wishes. You have the power to save and transform lives. Learn more and register to donate HERE.
| | The Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care is Canada’s premier green health care resource network, leading the evolution of green in Canada’s health sector as a national voice and catalyst for environmental change. www.greenhealthcare.ca | |
Some articles referred to in the Digest make reference to services and/or product offerings from specific suppliers. The CCGHC recommends that readers research the service and product offerings available through a wider range of suppliers for comparison purposes and in keeping with public sector purchasing guidelines. These articles should not be interpreted as an endorsement of any product or service. | | | | |
