Other Initiatives
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Identifying and supporting interventions in primary care that contribute to climate mitigation and climate resilience. Click here to learn more.
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Reducing resource use and waste in the OR and reducing the use of environmentally harmful anesthetic gases. Click here to learn more.
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Identifying opportunities to increase the visibility and impact of sustainability efforts. Click here to learn more.
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Determining how to assess and harness the environmental benefits of virtual care, learning, and work. Click here to learn more.
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Ensuring commitment to advancing equitable outcomes both in the areas of climate mitigation and resilience. Click here to learn more.
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Developing city-healthcare partnerships to explore opportunities for the healthcare sector to support city-led climate action. Click here to learn more.
Working Group
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Working Group Members
Cathy Bailey, VP Finance and Chief Financial Officer, Baycrest Health Sciences
Greg Chow, VP Finance, Partnerships and Chief Financial Officer, Women’s College Hospital
Genny Ng, Co-Chair of President's Environmental Sustainability and Greening Task Force; Manager for Quality and Patient Safety, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Michele Beals, VP, Finance and Chief Financial Officer, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Sarah Chow, VP Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer, Michael Garron Hospital
Varma Maharaj, Director, Patient Support Services, Trillium Health Partners
Wanda Page, Director of Operations, Stores and Supply Chain Management, Trillium Health Partners
Secretariat
Fiona A. Miller, Director, Centre for Sustainable Health Systems, University of Toronto & CASCADES
Brittany Maguire, Managing Director, Centre for Sustainable Health Systems, University of Toronto
About the Community of Practice Sustainable Procurement Working Group
Healthcare supply chains have a significant environmental impact, from production through distribution, and account for over 60% of healthcare’s greenhouse gas emissions (see Health Care Without Harm, 2019; NHS, 2022; Newcastle Hospitals, 2022). Supply chains also contribute to social injustices, including failure to uphold workers’ rights (see Lofti et al, 2021).
Sustainable procurement therefore presents a critical opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the broader environmental impact associated with healthcare’s supply chains, as well as contribute to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (see UNEP, 2022).
Sustainable procurement was identified as a priority for the Sustainable Health System Community of Practice Leadership Table to address in its second term (2022-2025). The Sustainable Procurement Working Group was established to identify how the Community of Practice could advance sustainable procurement across TAHSN.
Focus of Term Two (2022-2025)
The Working Group has been engaging stakeholders to assess the current state of and interest in sustainable procurement among TAHSN hospitals and their procurement partners. The Working Group is also working to identify high impact opportunities for sustainable procurement across TAHSN.
On May 19, 2023 the Working Group hosted a TAHSN Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Symposium on Sustainable Procurement with the aim to:
Understand the landscape and trends in sustainable procurement.
Identify specific opportunities and challenges to spread and scale across the network.
Discuss the opportunity for TAHSN to help define the direction of travel for sustainable procurement in the healthcare sector.
For more details on the presentations and sustainable procurement case studies, see the event summary and slides.
The CFO Symposium identified strong support for collaborative movement forward, including the development of a collective commitment to address the environmental impact of purchasing as healthcare organizations. Following the event, the TAHSN Statement on Sustainable Procurement was developed by the Working Group and then endorsed by TAHSN Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) at the TAHSN CEO Table.