Each year, along with all public sector organizations, BC’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. The CCAR for 2021 is now available online, and below is the Executive Summary which provides a high level overview of what this years report included.
Executive Summary: Providence Health Care, CCAR 2021
Fiona Dalton, President & Chief Executive Officer
It gives me great pleasure to present Providence Health Care’s (PHC) twelfth annual Climate Change Accountability Report (CCAR) for 2021. For twelve consecutive years, Providence has been proud to be carbon neutral, through our purchasing of carbon offsets. As an organization driven by innovation and social justice, we believe that our role as health care providers goes beyond caring for individuals and to caring for the environment, too.
Stewardship is one of our key organizational values and throughout our long history of providing compassionate and innovative care, teaching and research, we have been responsible and accountable stewards. For us, that includes taking personal responsibility for the carbon footprint produced by our operations and facilities.
In 2021, Providence had a carbon footprint of 11,838 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e), which was offset at a total cost of $295,950. This represents a 2.7% per cent increase in carbon emissions relative to the 2007 baseline year.
In 2021, Providence reached substantial completion of several energy efficiency and GHG reduction projects at our core sites such as Mount Saint Joseph Hospital, Holy Family Hospital, St. Vincent’s: Langara, St. Vincent’s: Brock Fahrni and Youville Residence which collectively received an incentive of $2,575,077 from FortisBC in recognition of the significant carbon reduction achieved.
It is worth highlighting the project at Brock Fahrni which added cooling and reduced carbon emissions by 80%. Also, Langara project utilized Carbon Neutral Capital Program funding and took advantage of a $365,388 incentive from FortisBC, thus minimized the investment required by Providence.
PHC’s Energy Manager played a key role in initiation of a new project on waste-to-energy in partnership with UBC. This project will develop a new innovative technology for handling our food and organic wastes in our health facilities and convert those waste to useful energy and soil amendments. Thus, it can give us an opportunity to move towards a zero food waste health care.
In 2022, we will continue to improve our environmental performance through energy efficiency initiatives, educations and coordinated efforts with our health care partners. We look forward to the positive impacts that this work will bring, including saving energy, decreasing air pollution, and ultimately adding to the health and wellness of the people, workplaces and the communities we serve.
Date: May 27, 2022
Fiona Dalton
President & Chief Executive Officer
Providence Health Care
