CASCADES

What CASCADES does

CASCADES is a Canadian non-profit organization launched in June 2021 to coordinate climate action within the healthcare sector. Hosted by the University of Toronto's Dalla Lana School of Public Health through the Collaborative Centre for Climate, Health & Sustainable Care, CASCADES operates a Pan-Canadian Network of 42 partner organizations that includes health delivery organizations, provincial health agencies, pan-Canadian health organizations, and academic health institutions across all Canadian provinces and territories. Its mission is to strengthen capacity for high-quality, low-carbon, and climate-resilient care.

The organization's product portfolio centers on implementation resources, training programs, and assessment tools for sustainable healthcare. Core offerings include the Sustainability-Embedded Quality Improvement (SE-QI) Framework, the Sustainable Hospital Pharmacy Scorecard, the Sustainable Perioperative Care Dashboard and Scorecard, the Oral Health Carbon Calculator, and the Virtual Care Carbon Accounting Tool (VCCAT). A Resources Library houses 335+ curated implementation playbooks, toolkits, and educational materials. Training spans asynchronous online courses (e.g., Introduction to Sustainable Health Systems) and synchronous programs (Leadership for Change, Metrics for Change, Climate Conscious Inhalers Prescribing, Fundamentals of Sustainable Health Systems), delivered in partnership with academic institutions including UBC Sauder, the Sandra Rotman Centre, and Dalhousie University. The Pan-Canadian Network, launched November 2025, convenes members via Monthly Exchange Sessions, Practice Network meetings (4-6x/year), and Advisory Board meetings (2-4x/year).

CASCADES operates a non-commercial model with no pricing structure; its resources, training, and network membership are provided free of charge to Canadian healthcare organizations. Revenue is sustained through in-kind contributions from university and healthcare partners, donations, and competitive research grants, with the organization initially funded by Environment and Climate Change Canada's Environmental Damages Fund. Customer segments are exclusively healthcare-focused, including health delivery organizations, provincial health agencies, academic institutions, and individual clinicians/administrators (1,561 trained in Year 5, up from 53 in Year 1). The 19-person team is distributed across Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax, led by Director Fiona Miller.

Name

CASCADES

Legal name

CASCADES

Website

https://cascadescanada.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

CASCADES is a Canadian non-profit hosted by the University of Toronto that operates the Pan-Canadian Network on Health System Response to Climate Change, delivering implementation resources, training programs, and assessment tools to 42 healthcare partner organizations across Canada to enable low-carbon, climate-resilient care.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sustainable Healthcare Education and Implementation Services

NAICS

Business Associations (813910), Voluntary Health Organizations (813212), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYHLAJAKAN

Global Health Research, Evidence & Technical Assistance Organizations

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Public Health, Government & Regulators/Global Health & Development Agencies (NGOs/Multilaterals)

SECONDARYEUABAEAE

Supply Chain (Scope 3) Emissions & Supplier Engagement Platforms

Energy, Utilities & Environment/Carbon & Climate Solutions (Carbon Markets, Offsets, CCS/CCUS)/Carbon Accounting, Reporting & Climate Data Platforms (GHG Inventories, ESG/Disclosure)

Keywords

• Sustainable healthcare
• Climate action training
• Healthcare quality improvement
• Planetary health education
• Healthcare carbon accounting

Headquarters

HQ city

Toronto

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. In-kind contributions: Sustained through in-kind contributions from university and healthcare partner organizations, providing staff, infrastructure, and expertise.
2. Research funding: Project funding secured through competitive research grants and funding pursuits, supported by the Coordination and Support Team.
3. Donations: Accepts charitable donations to support operations and program delivery.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

CASCADES is a non-profit organization that delivers training courses, evidence-based implementation resources (playbooks, toolkits), and assessment tools (scorecards, dashboards, calculators) to Canadian healthcare organizations. It coordinates the Pan-Canadian Network on Health System Response to Climate Change, connecting health leaders, provincial agencies, academic institutions, and clinicians to accelerate climate action in healthcare. All resources and training are provided free of charge to the healthcare community.

Product overview

CASCADES is a Pan-Canadian Network on Health System Response to Climate Change that provides educational programs, implementation resources, and professional development for sustainable healthcare. The portfolio consists of training courses (both synchronous and asynchronous), evidence-based playbooks and toolkits, assessment tools (scorecards, dashboards), calculators, and a collaborative network. The training offerings range from foundational courses like Introduction to Sustainable Health Systems and Orientation to Planetary Health & Sustainable Care to advanced programs including Leadership for Change, Metrics for Change, and specialty courses like Climate Conscious Inhalers Prescribing. Implementation resources include specialized playbooks covering pharmacy, specialty care, quality improvement, and operational sustainability. Assessment and measurement tools include the Sustainable Hospital Pharmacy Scorecard, Sustainable Perioperative Care Dashboard and Scorecard, and the SE-QI Toolkit. The Pan-Canadian Network serves as the coordinating mechanism for knowledge exchange and collaborative action across Canadian healthcare organizations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Introduction to Sustainable Health Systems An asynchronous online course providing foundational knowledge on sustainable health systems and environmental sustainability in healthcare delivery for healthcare professionals and learners.
• Introduction to Environmentally Sustainable Hospital Pharmacies An asynchronous course introducing environmentally sustainable practices for hospital pharmacy operations and medication management, targeted at pharmacy professionals.
• Orientation to Planetary Health & Sustainable Care An asynchronous orientation course designed for integration into organizational learning management systems, providing foundational planetary health education for healthcare staff.
• Fundamentals of Sustainable Health Systems A 4-hour professional education program for frontline staff, administrators, and leaders covering principles of sustainable healthcare, strategic sustainability messaging, and environmental impact metrics.
• Leadership for Change: Toward Sustainable Health Systems A four three-hour session course exploring leadership capabilities required to improve, change, and transform the health sector for sustainability, grounded in the LEADS in a Caring Environment framework.
• Metrics for Change: Towards Sustainable Health Systems A course providing understanding of how to mobilize metrics to assess and mitigate environmental impacts of the health sector, covering Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and carbon footprinting methodologies.
• Climate Conscious Inhalers Prescribing A three two-hour session course for individuals involved in respiratory care across outpatient, community, and acute care settings on climate-conscious inhaler prescribing practices.
• Breakthrough Series Collaborative Uses QI methodology and Breakthrough Series Collaborative approach to spread local sustainable healthcare innovations across multiple sites and regions, supporting spread and scale of proven practices.
• Summer Institute on Sustainable Health Systems A one-week intensive program through guided learning activities, meetings with local sustainability leaders, and nation-wide panel discussions to develop trainee knowledge and leadership skills.
• CASCADES Playbooks Evidence-based ready-to-use implementation resources covering pharmacy, specialty care, quality improvement, strategic planning, and operational sustainability, freely available through the CASCADES Resources Library.
• Virtual Care Carbon Accounting Tool (VCCAT) A tool supporting the estimation of travel-related carbon and financial impacts associated with virtual and in-person care to help organizations measure and maximize environmental benefits.
• Sustainable Hospital Pharmacy Scorecard A scorecard for assessing and benchmarking sustainable pharmacy practices in hospital settings across procurement, waste management, and clinical practice dimensions.
• Sustainable Perioperative Care Dashboard A dashboard for tracking and monitoring sustainable perioperative care metrics and performance in surgical care settings.
• Sustainable Perioperative Care Scorecard A scorecard for evaluating and measuring sustainable practices in perioperative care settings.
• Oral Health Carbon Calculator A specialized carbon calculator for dental practices to compute and monitor their carbon footprints using recent carbon modeling methodologies.
• Sustainability-Embedded Quality Improvement (SE-QI) Toolkit A toolkit helping individuals and teams incorporate environmental sustainability into quality improvement initiatives with guidance on measuring and reporting environmental impacts, including SQUIRE-ENV Extension guidance.
• Pan-Canadian Network on Health System Response to Climate Change A network connecting health leaders, researchers, and planetary health experts across Canada to accelerate action on climate change through coordinated, evidence-informed approaches; includes 42+ partner organizations across all provinces and territories.

Quantifiable outcome

• 283 innovation champions engaged in Year 5 (2025-2026)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

24 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• University of Toronto - Dalla Lana School of Public HealthcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic host institution providing leadership through Professor Fiona Miller. CASCADES coordinates and stewards the Pan-Canadian Network in collaboration with partner academic institutions. The Collaborative Centre for Climate, Health & Sustainable Care serves as the organizational home.
• Centre for Sustainable Health SystemscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLead organization at the University of Toronto from which CASCADES emerged. Nicole Simms previously served as Managing Director before joining CASCADES Executive.
• Canadian College of Health Leaders (CCHL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to offer Health Leadership Specialty in Sustainable Health Systems, allowing Canadian health leaders to earn credit towards CCHL Fellowship Select Program through completing Fundamentals of Sustainable Health Systems and advanced courses.
• Centre for Healthcare Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (CQuIPS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on SQUIRE-ENV Extension, establishing structured guidance for reporting environmental sustainability in quality improvement projects. Led in collaboration with national and international QI leaders.
• Centre for Sustainable Healthcare (UK)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on Sustainability in Quality Improvement (SusQI) framework and SQUIRE-ENV Extension. CASCADES' SE-QI framework builds on the SusQI approach developed by the UK-based Centre for Sustainable Healthcare.
• UBC Sauder School of Business / Centre for Climate and Business SolutionsmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for Leadership and Strategy for Sustainable Health Systems webinar series, part of the broader academic collaboration for professional education.
• Sandra Rotman Centre for Health Sector Strategy (University of Toronto)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partnership for Leadership and Strategy for Sustainable Health Systems webinar series.
• Dalhousie University Faculty of ManagementmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partnership for Leadership and Strategy for Sustainable Health Systems webinar series.
• Réseau d'Action pour la Santé Durable du Québec (RASDQ)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on the 'Les Gants, pas tout le temps' campaign for appropriate glove use, launched fall 2023.
• Association québécoise des médecins pour l'environnement (AQME)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in the appropriate glove use campaign to raise awareness among healthcare personnel.
• Synergie Santé Environnement (SSE)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in the appropriate glove use campaign in Quebec.
• Canadian Association of General Surgeons (CAGS)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to deliver Fundamentals of Sustainable Perioperative Care workshop at Canadian Surgery Forum.
• Canadian Society of Nephrology (CSN) - Sustainable Nephrology Action Planning (SNAP) CommitteemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on environmentally sustainable kidney care education and resources, including pre-recorded lectures for nephrology practitioners.
• Indigenous Pharmacy Professionals of CanadamajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on weaving Indigenous perspectives into pharmacy practice playbook, featuring Métis pharmacist Amy Lamb.
• My Green LabminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerReferenced as resource partner for clinical laboratory sustainability initiatives.
• Canadian Coalition for Green Health CaremajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on sustainable healthcare initiatives including radiotherapy toolkit and radiology education.
• Indigenous Primary Health Care CouncilmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on Pathway to Climate Resilience in Primary Health Care webinar.
• Alliance for Healthier CommunitiesmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on Pathway to Climate Resilience in Primary Health Care webinar addressing climate change vulnerability in primary health care sector.
• East Kootenay Division of Family PracticemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDevelopment partner for Planetary Health for Primary Care Toolkit with Dr. Ilona Hale.
• Critical Air Project - Island Health (BC)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerClimate-conscious inhaler initiative at Royal Jubilee Hospital, led by Dr. Valeria Stoynova and Dr. Celia Culley, supported by CASCADES since April 2022.
• CIHI (Canadian Institute for Health Information)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPan-Canadian health organization member of the network, contributing to health data and measurement capacity.
• Interior Health (BC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional health authority member of the Practice Network, representing British Columbia in the pan-Canadian network.
• Unity Health TorontocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic hospital network member of the Practice Network in Ontario.
• Santé QuébeccoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvincial health agency member, recently published 2026-2028 Sustainable Development Action Plan highlighted by CASCADES.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Centre for Sustainable Healthcare: UK-based charity that originated the SusQI framework, which CASCADES' SE-QI framework builds upon. Operates a comparable model of training, resources, and a sustainable healthcare network, making it CASCADES' most direct methodological counterpart.
• Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care: Canadian coalition advancing environmentally responsible healthcare, including radiotherapy and radiology toolkits co-developed with CASCADES. Direct Canadian peer with overlapping mission and audience.
• Global Green and Healthy Hospitals: International network of hospitals and health systems committed to sustainability, aggregating member commitments and best practices. Comparable global network model serving healthcare delivery organizations.
• Healthcare Without Harm: Global coalition of hospitals, health systems, and healthcare professionals reducing the environmental footprint of healthcare delivery. Highly comparable mission, network-based model, and resource/training portfolio.
• Practice Greenhealth: US-based membership organization for hospitals and health systems pursuing sustainability. Provides similar benchmarking tools, educational programs, and peer networking for sustainable healthcare — a North American analogue.
• UK Health Alliance on Climate Change: UK alliance of health professional organizations responding to climate change. Highly comparable mission (mobilizing healthcare professionals and institutions on climate) and operating model of convening coalitions.
• Health Care Climate Alliance: US coalition of healthcare organizations advocating for climate action. Comparable mission, network model, and stakeholder base (hospitals, health systems, professional associations) to CASCADES' Pan-Canadian Network.

Broad incumbents

• Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change: International research collaboration tracking climate change and public health indicators globally. Overlapping research mission and health-system audience but broader in scope; provides evidence base underpinning CASCADES' work.

Emerging players

• My Green Lab: Non-profit focused on laboratory sustainability, listed by CASCADES as a resource partner. Comparable niche non-profit model in healthcare sustainability with overlapping audiences (clinical labs, healthcare organizations).

Others

• Centre for Sustainable Health Systems: University of Toronto research centre from which CASCADES emerged; an enabling ecosystem participant providing the academic and intellectual foundation for CASCADES' programs and frameworks.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCknP5h1OsSOjQJfMBXN2ygg
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cascadescanada
• Instagraminstagram.com/cascades.canada

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CASCADES