The 12th annual Climate Change Accountability Report for 2021 is now available.
Each year, along with all public sector organizations, B.C.’s health organizations submit a Climate Change Accountability Report (CCAR) to the Climate Action Secretariat of the provincial government. This is a mandated reporting of GHG emissions and other data, and current and planned actions to reduce GHG emissions.
We know you might not have time to read the full report so we’ve pulled together a top 10 for you to get a glimpse of what was included.
1. PHC is growing, but our carbon footprint is shrinking
Since 2007, PHC’s carbon footprint has increased along with increase in usable floor area and staff. However, as of 2021, emissions per full-time employee have decreased by 24 per cent as compared to 2007, and emissions per unit of floor area have decreased 2 per cent since 2007.
2. We’re continuing to optimize
PHC completed the implementation phase of BC Hydro’s Continuous Optimization Program—a joint offer from BC Hydro and FortisBC which provides energy saving and operational improvement assistance to large commercial buildings — at St. Paul’s Hospital, and progressed with the implementation phase at Mount Saint Joseph. And we’re looking into implementing control and optimization for other core sites for 2022.
3. We’re not letting heat go to waste
As you read earlier this year the heat recovery project at St. Vincent’s: Brock Fahrni has been highly successful and is expected to lower the site’s emissions by about 80 per cent. We expect the same success story at other sites, such as St. Vincent’s: Langara and Holy Family Hospital when implemented in 2022.
4. We’re winning awards
In 2021, the PHC Projects, Planning & Facilities Management team accepted the Energy Efficiency Award from FortisBC for its efforts and projects in energy efficiency and GHG reduction in its health care facilities.
5. We’ve got big plans for recycling
PHC facilities comply with a standardized recycling program which includes mixed containers, mixed paper, organic waste and batteries. Depending on collection logistics, some sites also participate in recycling programs for expanded polystyrene, pallet wrap, printer cartridges, and mattresses, scrap metal, lighting and other materials. Each facility has a target of reaching 50 per cent waste diversion—the process of diverting waste form landfills— by 2030.
6. The PHC community is keen to up their waste management knowledge
From January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021, a total of 657 PHC staff completed the online Waste Management Basics Learning Module 8 available on the Learning Hub.
7. Grants were awarded
In 2021, three grants were sponsored by the PHC Workplace Initiative Fund for environmental sustainability projects, and approximately $2850 in total was distributed to recipients of the grant. Projects that qualified for the fund were required to coordinate a healthy living project in the workplace, and promoted themes of waste reduction, with several co-benefits including improvements to staff well-being.
8. We’re getting into GreenCare
According to the GreenCare website analytics, since the relaunch in October 2021, the number of Green+Leaders monthly registrations have doubled.
9. Our partnerships are making a difference
In 2021, the PHC Energy Management team launched an innovative Waste-to-Energy project in partnership with the UBC bioenergy department. The objective of this project is to collect all the organic and food wastes of all the facilities and convert them into fuel (biogas) and fertilizer, thus not only preventing waste addition to landfill, but also making use of the by-product of this conversion.
10. We’re always looking for ways to improve
In 2021, the Energy and Environmental Sustainability team finished updating its Sustainability Strategic Framework in order to ensure relevance, alignment, accountability and an accurate reflection of BC and the health organizations. Under the refreshed framework the team continues to drive the push for environmentally sustainable and climate resilient health care through seven inter-related focus areas: climate change, energy and carbon, food, leadership and innovation, materials, transportation, and water.
And those are just the highlights! Read the full report.
