Key Offerings
Training
Synchronous Courses
CASCADES runs a variety of in-person and online synchronous training opportunities, including the ongoing Planetary Health & Sustainable Care ECHO.
Asynchronous Courses
CASCADES offers a growing roster of online asynchronous courses. These include Introduction to Sustainable Health Systems, and Introduction to Sustainable Hospital Pharmacies. Orientation to Planetary Health & Sustainable Care, a condensed version of Introduction to Sustainable Health Systems, is also avialable as SCORM file for integration into health organizations’ online learning platforms.
Visit the CASCADES training page for further details.
Resources
CASCADES develops and curates an array of informational and implementation resources across two key areas for climate action in healthcare:
Care Pathways
Care pathways describe the structured sequence of clinical decisions, interventions, and models of care that shape how patients move through the health system. CASCADES’ resources address opportunities to improve quality and health outcomes while reducing environmental harm within and across care pathways, including prescribing practices, primary and community care, and specialty areas.
System Enablers
System enablers focus on the structures, strategies, and processes that make sustainable, resilient, and high-quality health systems possible. CASCADES’ resources explore how organizations can mobilize quality improvement and patient safety, strategy and performance, and operational levers to embed climate resilience and sustainability in healthcare delivery.
The CASCADES Resources Library brings together resources created by CASCADES and its partners alongside contributions from other organizations and experts in a searchable repository.
Networks
Pan-Canadian Network on Health System Response to Climate Change
The Pan-Canadian Network on Health System Response to Climate Change brings together health leaders, planetary health experts, and researchers to support collaborative exchange across the country, with a focus on shared learning and implementing collective, evidence-informed actions that strengthen organizational capacity to respond to climate change in ways that are coherent, coordinated, and tailored to local needs.
The Network seeks to:
- Create and sustain a mechanism for ongoing knowledge exchange and to enable the dissemination of leading practices, tools, research, and implementation initiatives
- Leverage existing infrastructure, expertise, and momentum to enable coordinated, synergistic action and strengthen capacity
- Identify collective opportunities and support their advancement
Monthly Exchange Sessions
CASCADES Monthly Exchange Sessions occur on the first Wednesday of every month providing an informal opportunity to connect and discuss with others working to make Canadian healthcare more sustainable. Participants are encouraged to suggest topics of discussion and to present their own works in progress.
Email cascades@utoronto.ca to join.
Key Initiatives
Pan-Canadian Network on Health System Response to Climate Change
The Pan-Canadian Network brings together health leaders, planetary health experts, and researchers from academic institutions, health delivery organizations, and other health agencies across Canada to strengthen the health system’s response to climate and planetary health challenges. Through cross-jurisdiction learning and collaboration, the Network helps members share practical approaches, coordinate collective opportunities, accelerate the uptake of evidence-informed actions, and build on existing capacity within their own systems.
CASCADES Resources Library
Efforts to build climate resilient and sustainable health systems can be accelerated when they mobilize existing learnings and resources. The CASCADES Resources Library showcases resources created by CASCADES and its partners alongside contributions from other organizations and experts. These materials highlight key sustainability opportunities, supporting evidence, real-world examples, and practical implementation tools to strengthen capacity for change. Individuals and groups can submit their own resources to the library, contributing to a collection that supports others as they strive to enhance the sustainability of the health sector.