Toronto academic hospitals release new sustainability report

The Toronto Academic Health Science Network has published its second-annual Climate & Sustainability Report, which highlights the efforts of 14 academic hospitals affiliated with the University of Toronto to prioritize and mobilize sustainability and climate action, as assessed by a collaborative sustainability balanced scorecard.

The report demonstrates measurable system-wide progress across TAHSN to advance sustainability and climate action, with organizations increasingly embedding sustainability as a core value and priority and into governance.

In one year, more hospitals formalized sustainability teams, embedded climate into strategic plans, strengthened emissions reporting, and expanded supply stewardship and appropriate care initiatives.

The report reflects a shared commitment to continuous improvement and highlights areas of progress and innovation across the network, as well as opportunities to further advance this critical work.

“Climate change is already affecting the health of our patients and communities,” says Sarah Downey, TAHSN Chair and President & CEO, CAMH. “This report demonstrates how academic hospitals are taking concrete steps to reduce their environmental impact and strengthen resilience - while continuing to build momentum for further progress.”

TAHSN is one of the largest academic health science networks in North America, with more than 98,000 staff and serving more than 9 million patients each year. With size, scale and breadth, the network seeks to demonstrate local impact and global leadership in climate resilience, and environmental stewardship.

TAHSN’s sustainability balanced scorecard evaluates leadership, clinical care, infrastructure and institutional resilience — reinforcing that environmental stewardship is inseparable from patient safety, quality and financial responsibility.

This scorecard was developed collaboratively, with the 14 TAHSN hospitals measuring themselves against four perspectives, each with their own foci:

• Leading: organizational capacity and leadership and governance
• Caring: appropriate care and supply stewardship
• Building: reductions in operational greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and waste
• Shaping: procurement and resilience to climate shocks and stresses

Scores were collected in September 2025. Each perspective identifies two objectives for a total of eight. Each objective incorporates a series of criteria to assess achievement. Organizations were scored on a green (achieved), yellow (partially achieved) and red (not achieved) scale.

The average score of participating hospitals was four to five green in 2025, in comparison to three green in 2024. No organization received the theoretical best score of eight.

The sustainability balanced scorecard has been developed for the TAHSN Sustainable Health System Community of Practice. The community of practice was established in 2020 by TAHSN and U of T’s Council of Health Sciences to collaboratively address the challenge of climate change in the health sector.

The Collaborative Centre for Climate, Health & Sustainable Care is a multi-faculty academic unit at U of T, which serves as secretariat for the community of practice. Brittany Maguire, the managing director, and Fiona Miller, the director, led the development of the scorecard and report and have facilitated the community of practice on various sustainability initiatives since 2020. 

Another assessment is planned for 2026, to continue to monitor and drive performance, celebrate achievements, and share practices and learnings across and beyond the network.