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New project - Accelerating Decarbonization at Canadian Hospitals
This new project, led by the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care in partnership with MaRS Discovery District, is focused on helping hospitals in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) lower their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across all areas of hospital operations, including buildings, clinical practices, and procurement.
To get started we are gathering insights on clinical, operational and building-related emissions in hospitals.
If you are working in the GTHA and are involved in climate or sustainability work, please take a few minutes to complete this short survey to help us learn more about how we can better support you and your community!
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Call for Sponsors - Health Day at Toronto Climate Week
On October 3rd we're bringing together health and climate leaders to drive change, and we need your support!
Sponsor opportunities available for:
- Venue
- Catering (Lunch & Cocktail Reception)
- Speaker support
Help us spotlight inspiring voices and make sustainable health care a national priority. Sponsors will receive recognition and branding opportunities throughout the event.
Let’s make health care part of the climate solution.
Interested? Reach out to will@greenhealthcare.ca
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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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Call for submission - Canadian Healthcare Facilities - Fall Issue
Canadian Healthcare Engineering Society
The Fall 2025 issue of CHES's journal, Canadian Healthcare Facilities (CHF), is currently seeking article submissions related to the following topics: Facility Management & Design and Sustainable Healthcare.
If you are interested in submitting an article, please contact the journal's Editor, Clare Tattersall, at claret@mediaedge.ca with the proposed topic. The deadline for final article submissions is October 1, 2025.
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Call for papers - Planetary Health: Urgency and agency for Systems change
Planetary Health Alliance
We welcome your contributions to a Special Issue of Challenges featuring the proceedings of the 2025 Planetary Health Annual Meeting.
The issue will showcase new knowledge and practice across disciplines that advance the Planetary Health agenda and invites original research, case studies, perspectives, and creative works that contribute to this growing movement.
| | New course - Scaling up health adaptation measures to meet the climate change challenge in the Americas | | |
Dates: September 25 - October 30, 2025
This FREE bi-weekly 11-session course is designed to equip health professionals, federal, regional and local health systems planners, hospital administrators, emergency planners, sustainability officers, public health officials, and others with the knowledge and tools needed to rapidly scale-up adaptation, mitigation, and resilience efforts to prepare health systems for climate change.
Hosted by the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education (GCCHE), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI), EarthMedic and EarthNurse Foundation for Planetary Health, and Health Canada.
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Advancing environmentally sustainable learning health systems: Perspectives from a Canadian health centre
Learning Health Systems
There is increasing demand for health systems to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and invest in climate-resilient health care. Coordinating organisational structures and processes for reducing health system emissions presents challenges.
Learning health systems, defined as systems that seek to continuously generate and apply evidence, innovation, quality, and value in health care, can guide health systems with planning organisational structures and processes to advance environmentally sustainable health care. The purpose of this research is to gather in-depth insight from key health system leaders and health care professionals to identify challenges and recommendations for planning environmentally sustainable learning health systems.
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First, do no harm: An oath for regulators confronting the harms of pesticides
Healthy Debate
Physicians, take what’s often referred to as the Hippocratic Oath that, among other things, commits them to “first, do no harm.” And as physicians who have taken this oath, it is challenging to reconcile this ethical obligation with the approaches used by Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency
The article urges Health Canada to adopt an ethical stance akin to the medical oath, when regulating pesticides—including rodenticides and fungicides. It calls for a comprehensive re-evaluation of pesticide policies in line with the Global Biodiversity Framework’s Target 7, which emphasizes reducing pollution to levels that are not harmful to biodiversity.
The piece challenges regulatory bodies to prioritize ecological integrity and public health over narrow pest-control goals.
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Cutting waste and cutting emissions
Hamilton Health Sciences
Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) is significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions by tackling food waste.
Initiatives include dehydrating and composting leftovers, donating meals nearing their best-before dates to local charities, sourcing local and seasonal produce, expanding meal variety, and committing to the Coolfood Pledge to cut food-related emissions by 25% by 2030.
These efforts not only shrink HHS’s carbon footprint—where meals contribute emissions comparable to five litres of gasoline per 1,000 calories—but also support food security and sustainable community engagement.
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Celebrating 15 years of climate action
GreenCare is proud to share the 2024 actions, achievements and progress toward low carbon, climate resilient and environmentally sustainable care at four BC health organisations —marking 15 years of climate reporting and action across the sector.
Each report reflects the unique progress and priorities of the health organisations, while collectively demonstrating the growing momentum to embed planetary health into care, operations, and infrastructure.
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Here's how you can make your garden a safe and biodiverse space for urban wildlife
The Conversation
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Biodiversity is essential to mitigating and adapting to climate change, enhancing the resilience of ecosystems and safeguarding the ecological functions that all living beings depend on for survival.
As a response to the cascading climate crisis, wildlife habitat gardens have grown in popularity. These are spaces designed to attract and sustain local wildlife, and include efforts such as rewilded meadows, pollinator patches, rain gardens, naturalized lawns and others. This series of free, fact-based guides help people learn how to cultivate biodiversity and support for wildlife habitat in private gardens.
| | 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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A Comprehensive How-to Guide to Ventilation Systems
Greening Health Care
Date: September 10, 2025
Time: 9:30am PST/12:30pm EST
Reducing ventilation when spaces are unoccupied saves a lot of heating, cooling, humidification and fan power. It is highly cost effective, fully code compliant and improves comfort and air quality. Join Greening Health Care for a step-by-step tutorial on planning and implementing a comprehensive and systematic HVAC scheduling program for your hospital, moderated by Amandeep Deol, Vice President of the Climate Challenge Network, with hospitals and service contractors.
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Climate-Related Impacts on the Heat Stability of Health Products
ATACH
Dates: September 2, 2025
Time: 11:00am PST/2:00pm EST
This Technical Meeting, hosted by Unitaid and other partners, will provide a platform for ATACH members to share and discuss experiences and learnings regarding the impact that rising temperatures have on the stability of health products
Discussions will include stories, potential solutions, opportunities for innovation, and remaining questions to guide future actions on the topic.
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Maximizing impact through external partnerships and networks
CASCADES
Date: August 28, 2025
Time: 9:00am PST/12:00pm EST
External partnerships and networks are crucial for advancing low-carbon, sustainable, equitable, and resilient health systems. Collaborations with organisations, academic institutions, community groups, and other external groups facilitate the exchange of strategies, innovations, learnings, and resources. These partnerships enable initiatives to scale and enhance organisations’ capacity to drive meaningful change.
On August 28, join CASCADES to hear from leaders who are maximizing their organisations’ impact through collaboration.
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Disaster management in pharmacy: Preparing for climate crisis
CASCADES
Dates: September 23, 2025
Time: 9:00am PST/12:00pm EST
Health care facilities are subject to increasing challenges related to climate change, including full facility evocations following extreme weather and other climate-exacerbated disasters.
Join CASCADES in hearing the first-hand account from hospital pharmacist Sarah Stroeder on the challenges encountered during the Yellowknife evacuation, and the impact on the hospital pharmacy. Joining Sarah to give her insight and expertise is Kaitlyn Watson, a pharmacy disaster planning specialist.
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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. It also provides 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.
Event Highlights Include:
- Engaging keynotes from leading experts
- Concurrent sessions to tailor your experience
- Amazing networking events with fellow CHES members and professionals from across the country
- Full exhibit hall packed with innovative health education products and services
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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. | | | | |
