Provincial Health Services Authority’s (PHSA) is pleased to present the 12th annual Climate Change Accountability Report that highlights the actions taken by PHSA to reduce its carbon footprint.
As we become more aware of the impacts of environmental sustainability on public health and wellness, it’s more important than ever to increase awareness and understanding of these issues with our staff, patients and the communities we serve. As PHSA has focused on reducing our carbon footprint over the past several years, I am pleased to report that our efforts have reduced PHSA’s operational impact on the natural environment, all while reducing operational costs.
In 2021, PHSA had a carbon footprint offset of 19,563 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e), which was offset at atotal cost of $512, 557.502. This represents a decrease of 18.5 per cent from the carbon footprint reported in 2007, the base year. Considering PHSA has assumed responsibility for more programs, services and staff over the past 14 years, this decrease is significant.
In 2021, we continued our carbon emission reduction efforts with three capital projects at the BC Children’s Hospital and BC Women’s Hospital + Health Centre, and five capital projects at BC Cancer: two at BC Cancer Research Institute, one at the BC Cancer centre in Victoria, and two at the BC Cancer centre in Surrey. When completed and fully commissioned, these projects are expected to reduce our carbon emissions by more than 1,500 tCO2e per year. In our day-to-day operations, we continue to take action and look for opportunities to reduce our carbon footprint associated in our buildings, fleet and other mobile equipment, as well as supplies (paper) that are the three categories of our in-scope emissions. We have improved waste reduction, recycling and composting programs, implemented criteria to support environmentally preferable purchasing decisions, increased education and awareness opportunities for staff to encourage behaviour change through employee engagement campaigns, and encouraged climate resilience and adaptation.
