Healthcare facilities are energy-intensive buildings, with operational requirements that must support patient care, clinical services, resilience and safety. At the McGill University Health Centre, building-related emissions are mainly associated with natural gas use.
In 2025, the Centre universitaire de santé McGill (‘ CUSM ‘) developed a strategic decarbonisation roadmap for its building portfolio. The roadmap was prepared with technical analysis by Dunsky Énergie + Climat, with support from the Association pour la santé publique du Québec and financial support from the City of Montréal.
The roadmap assessed how the CUSM building portfolio could move towards carbon neutrality by 2040. It identified energy efficiency, electrification and reduced reliance on natural gas as the main levers for reducing building-related emissions. The Glen campus, which forms part of BBGI’s portfolio through the McGill University Health Centre PPP asset, is one of the facilities included in the CUSM’s analysis.
Measures modelled for the Glen campus include steam network optimisation, recommissioning, electric steam boiler capacity, ventilation optimisation, geothermal heating for hot water networks, LED lighting conversion and heat recovery from ventilation. These measures remain subject to further feasibility assessment, investment planning and implementation decisions by the CUSM and its partners.
Across the CUSM building portfolio, the roadmap estimates approximately 14 ktCO₂e of building-related emissions in FY2022-2023, with around 95% linked to natural gas use. Under the modelled Net-Zero 2040 pathway, the roadmap estimates a 24% reduction in energy intensity, a reduction in the share of natural gas / renewable natural gas in the energy mix from 40% to 8%, and approximately C$100 million in energy bill savings over 2025-2050 compared with a business-as-usual profile.
The roadmap provides a structured basis for future decarbonisation planning across the CUSM building portfolio. It should be read as a strategic planning exercise, not as a completed implementation programme.
It is possible to deliver world-class care while reducing our ecological footprint.
Dr. Lucie Opatrny
President and Executive Director, CSUM
