No Excuses
More Canadian organizations need to follow the example of Canada’s Greenest Employers
If you talk to people from the winners of Canada’s Greenest Employers (2026), you’ll often hear the refrain, “Sustainability is in our DNA.” These are organizations that don’t just replace wastebaskets with recycling bins. They are constantly on the lookout for effective new ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, divert waste, green their surroundings, and reduce, recycle and repair. Many have employee-led green teams who help suggest these practices, in addition to sustainability-minded leaders who put pressure on their technical experts to improve the organization’s processes.
“We’re writing about very successful organizations that look for ways in which they can have an impact,” says Richard Yerema, executive editor of Mediacorp Canada, which runs the competition. “And they have proven that it’s possible — it didn’t bankrupt them. It’s all part of the choices that people get to make.”
In fact, if the policies followed by these employers were adopted by every organization in Canada, total emissions would surely fall dramatically. Overall, Canada can already claim to have reduced its CO2 emissions by 8.5 per cent from 2005 levels, but there is much more to be done. Canada’s Greenest Employers (2026) continue to improve the overall picture. Western University, for instance, has instituted what it calls a deep energy retrofit program, in which more than 100 buildings are being upgraded. That has resulted in a 32 per cent decrease in its emissions against 2005.
Similarly, Sanofi in Canada has achieved a landmark spot among the biopharma giant’s biggest global sites, bringing down emissions by 30 per cent in one year and reducing water usage and energy consumption through its major infrastructure upgrade.
But Sanofi employees, like so many among Canada’s Green Employers, are also mindful of the smaller environmental actions they can take, like running an on-site vegetable garden, cleaning up neighbouring areas and sponsoring two beehives in the community. Similarly. Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada has established pollinator-friendly gardens for monarch butterflies at its plants in Cambridge and Woodstock, Ont.
Many employers also offer business-based solutions. CIBC provides special car loans for electric and hybrid vehicles. IKEA Canada runs a successful “sell-back” program for gently used merchandise, offering store credit and allowing the item to be discounted “as-is” for others. Furniture maker Keilhauer offers help with recycling end-of-life items.
“These individuals and organizations are doing the many little things that will matter in the long term,” says Yerema. Moreover, he notes, many of the measures inevitably save the companies money.
“We’re long past the ‘Oh, what can we possibly do?’ phase of this,” he says. “There are so many good examples to be found in this list, whether it’s how we package goods or reuse skids or have electric-vehicle fleets, whatever it is. There are simply no excuses anymore not to do these things.”
Methodology
How this year’s winners were chosen
Canada’s Greenest Employers is an editorial competition organized by the Canada’s Top 100 Employers project. This special designation recognizes employers that have developed exceptional sustainability initiatives and directly involve employees in their efforts to mitigate adverse environmental impacts of their operations.
Key areas of review include employee-led initiatives and programs to engage employees in creating a culture of environmental awareness. The editors also review in-house efforts for waste reduction and recycling, green procurement policies and green building initiatives.
Any employer with its head office or principal place of business in Canada may apply for this competition through the Canada’s Top 100 Employers application process.
Organizations of any size may participate, whether private or public sector. Employers complete a single application for the national, regional, and special-interest competitions, including Canada’s Greenest Employers.
Detailed reasons for selection explaining why each of the winners was chosen, are published on the competition’s website, Canada’s Greenest Employers.
2026 Winners
The following organizations have been chosen as Canada’s Greenest Employers for 2026 (employee count refers to full-time staff):
AET Group Inc., Kitchener, Ont. Environmental consulting services; 28 employees. Organizes local cleanups every year with employees heading out to local parks to pick up litter, collecting over 17 kilograms of garbage during two campaigns last year.
Appleby College, Oakville, Ont. Elementary and secondary schools; 230 employees. Promotes environmental awareness (and engagement) with several on-campus gardens that are planted and tended by employees and students.
Aramark Canada Ltd., Mississauga. Food service contractors; 6,214 employees. Supports the unique Grounds for Your Garden program, in partnership with on-site Starbucks locations, by packaging used coffee grounds for employees and customers to use in their home gardens.
Aviva Canada Inc., Markham, Ont. Insurance services; 5,203 employees. Supports WWF Canada, helping administer the Nature and Climate Grant program, with financial donations used for the restoration of degraded lands and shorelines.
BC Housing Management Commission, Burnaby, B.C. Provincial government, housing programs; 1,338 employees. Organized three shoreline clean-up events over the past year with employees heading out and collecting waste as well as providing helpful data to the Ocean Wise Conservation Association.
BC Hydro, Vancouver. Hydroelectric power generation; 7,837 employees. Manages formal wildfire risk modelling and management programs, as well as ongoing vegetation management initiatives to inspect and prune unsafe growth near wires and infrastructure to help reduce wildfire risks and impacts.
BC Public Service, Victoria. Provincial governments; 38,895 employees. Encourages employees to get involved in creating a greener public service through location-specific and government-wide employee green teams.
BluEarth Renewables Inc., Calgary. Renewable power generation; 130 employees. Hosts a company-wide clothing, toy and book drive for donation and reuse, offers extensive in-house waste collection programs and hosted an employee cleanup around the grounds of the head office last year.
Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited, Toronto. Real estate management; 1,324 employees. Has introduced low-waste dining halls at select properties that use on-site sorting and organic composting to quickly reduce the weight and volume of organic materials.
Calgary, City of, Calgary. Municipal governments; 14,946 employees. Works with a number of environmental community groups every year, including Bike Calgary, Calgary Horticultural Society and the Pathway and River Cleanup, first established by the city in 1967.
Canon Canada Inc., Brampton, Ont. Imaging equipment and information services; 765 employees. Employees worked directly with Credit Valley Conservation to help build a rain garden at an elementary school, teaching students about the local watershed.
Capital Regional District, The / CRD, Victoria. Municipal government; 819 employees. Offers rebates for residential rainwater capture cisterns and provides workshops on stormwater management for local governments as well as agricultural property owners.
CIBC, Toronto. Banking; 42,280 employees. Manages a green vehicle program with discounted financing rates, along with a $25 donation to the Nature Conservancy of Canada for each green vehicle financed.
Compass Group Canada, Mississauga. Food services; 14,759 employees. Established the international Stop Food Waste Day in 2017 as part of a company-wide initiative to raise awareness and set a goal of reducing food waste by 50 per cent by 2030.
Concordia University, Montréal. Post-secondary schools, university; 3,180 employees. Manages an on-campus reuse program to donate and sell used furniture and equipment within the campus and outside communities.
Conservation Halton, Burlington, Ont. Environment and wildlife conservation organizations; 157 employees. Head office features a number of unique environmental features, including permeable pavers for storm and rainwater management, native plant landscaping and more.
Co-operators Group Limited, The, Guelph, Ont. Insurance; 6,595 employees. Manages enhanced recycling programs to divert batteries, e-waste, organics, furniture, construction materials and more.
Coquitlam, City of, Coquitlam, B.C. Municipal governments; 1,099 employees. Manages a formal green fleet strategic plan to add electric, natural gas and hybrid vehicles to its diverse fleet of vehicles that includes cars, waste collection and fire trucks.
Credit Valley Conservation Authority / CVC, Mississauga. Environment, conservation and wildlife organizations; 237 employees. Employee volunteers monitor grounds around the head office looking for injured birds and have also introduced window treatments to help prevent bird strikes.
Crombie REIT, New Glasgow, NS. Property management and development; 253 employees. Ensures all tenants receive a sustainability guide to promote water and energy use savings as well as providing information on environmentally friendly renovations.
Crown Property Management Inc., Toronto. Property management; 190 employees. Across 25 buildings, the company hosts 26 bee hives and five wild bee homes that support over one million honeybees, producing over 2,600 jars of honey annually.
Desjardins Group / Mouvement Desjardins, Lévis, Que. Financial institutions; 50,908 employees. Has installed over 450 EV charging stations and manages a long-standing alternative transportation program that encourages carpooling or sharing, cycling and public transit use.
DIALOG, Toronto. Architecture; 587 employees. Each studio location supports its own employee-led green team that organizes a variety of initiatives across the country, from community cleanups to educational talks and tours.
Diamond Schmitt Architects Inc., Toronto. Architecture; 288 employees. Encourages employees to leave the car at home and pedal their way to work with on-site shower facilities and secure indoor parking for over 60 bicycles.
EfficiencyOne, Dartmouth, N.S. Energy conservation advocacy; 262 employees. Partnered with the BuildGreen Atlantic conference in hosting a unique trade show and networking event to highlight and encourage green building practices across Atlantic Canada.
Emterra Group, Oakville, Ont. Recycling and waste management services; 924 employees. Introduced its first electric waste collection truck in Ontario in 2023 and recently launched its first all-electric fleet to collect recyclables, waste and organics on Vancouver Island.
Export Development Canada, Ottawa. International trade financing and support services; 2,084 employees. Plans a range of activities in recognition of a number of important environmental dates every year, including UN World Water Day, Earth Day, Waste Reduction Week and more.
Farm Mutual Reinsurance Plan Inc. / Farm Mutual Re, Cambridge, Ont. Insurance and financial services; 105 employees. Has adopted a nearby road, with employees heading out two times each year to pick up litter and collecting more than 200 bags full of litter over the past decade.
Fluor Canada Ltd., Calgary. Engineering services; 1,586 employees. Employees help organize and manage volunteer clean-up events every year to pick up garbage around the head office, local parks and downtown along the Bow River.
FortisAlberta Inc., Calgary. Electric power distribution; 1,317 employees. Implemented the Woodland Caribou Protection Program to promote grazing vegetation in power line corridors as well as the construction of nesting platforms for ferruginous hawks, ospreys and owls.
GHD Ltd., Waterloo, Ont. Engineering services; 2,051 employees. Supports employee sustainability champion volunteer programs in every region the firm operates, coordinating and implementing environmental plans for each location.
GlaxoSmithKline Inc. / GSK, Mississauga. Pharmaceutical manufacturing; 1,699 employees. The on-site GSKafé at the Sainte-Foy location replaced single-use plastic cutlery with traditional reuseable metal cutlery, offering each employee their own cutlery kit to celebrate the change.
Guelph, Corporation of the City of, Guelph, Ont. Municipal governments; 1,460 employees. Along with an indoor living green wall, city hall features a pollinator-friendly green roof with the “Air-Bee-N-Bee” structure in which pollinators can hibernate over the winter months.
G&W Canada Corporation, Brampton, Ont. Switchgear manufacturing; 236 employees. Conducts a third-party waste audit every two years and manages extended waste capture and recycling programs for its operations, from hazardous waste to wood pallets.
Hatch Ltd., Mississauga. Engineering services; 4,853 employees. Employee Sustainable Development Committee encourages staff to practice their green thumbs in the company’s community vegetable garden.
HDR, Inc., Toronto. Architectural services; 514 employees. Conducts an annual commuter survey that has led to additional bike parking and showers, transit subsidies and designated parking for carpoolers.
HP Canada Co., Mississauga. Computer technology and services; 786 employees. Head office is situated on 51 acres of land and is home to the Greening Corporate Grounds program that focuses on habitat protection along Etobicoke Creek, which runs through the property.
Hydro Ottawa, Ottawa. Electric power distribution; 745 employees. Head office features state-of-the-art building automation and water conservation systems that ensure a 55 per cent reduction from typical water use rates.
Ice River Sustainable Solutions, Shelburne, Ont. Bottled water manufacturing; 645 employees. Introduced the “Keep a Lid on It” program to encourage individuals to leave caps on recycled plastic bottles, which are ultimately turned into high-quality outdoor furniture.
IGM Financial Inc., Winnipeg. Financial services; 3,557 employees. Employee-led Green Business Resource Group organizes numerous environmental outreach campaigns, from employees helping plant over 650 trees in Winnipeg to introducing battery collection bins at office locations.
IKEA Canada Limited Partnership, Burlington, Ont. Home furnishings retail; 3,909 employees. Formal As-Is program to reduce unnecessary waste by offering customers returned products, display pieces and overstocked items at discounted prices.
Keilhauer Ltd., Toronto. Furniture manufacturing; 215 employees. Manages a website that openly features sustainability scorecards for all of its products and shares environmental attributes for each, from recycled content to the use of renewable energy in production.
Labatt Breweries of Canada, Toronto. Breweries; 3,374 employees. Celebrated World Environment Week by supporting a variety of initiatives across the country and volunteering to plant trees and shrubs, pick up garbage and remove invasive plants.
Loblaw Companies Ltd., Brampton, Ont. Supermarkets and grocery stores; 29,652 employees. Manages a food waste diversion program in partnership with Loop Resource that converts waste food products into animal feed, used at over 2,600 farms across the country.
MEC Mountain Equipment Company Ltd., Vancouver. Retail stores; 607 employees. Recently piloted new trade-in programs for gently used children’s snowsuits and bicycles as they outgrow them, helping parents reduce unnecessary waste and save money.
Medtronic Canada ULC, Brampton, Ont. Electromedical apparatus manufacturing; 630 employees. Offers preferential parking for electric and hybrid cars along with EV charging stations, with two hours of free charge time available for commuters.
Metrolinx, Toronto. Public transit; 6,489 employees. Supports an in-house Bicycle User Group (BUG) that works to connect cycling commuters, offering route tips, safety resources and maintenance clinics.
Miovision Technologies Inc., Kitchener, Ont. Computer software and consulting services; 282 employees. Employee-led green team (Green Mio) coordinates a number of initiatives throughout the year, from community cleanups and bike tune-up clinics to zero-waste cooking classes.
Mohawk College, Hamilton. Post-secondary schools, college; 1,216 employees. Manages a formal tree inventory program for its campus that provides a baseline dataset to help guide future tree planting and support biodiversity and a healthy tree canopy.
Mott MacDonald Canada Limited, Vancouver. Engineering services; 407 employees. Supports green office committees at its Vancouver and Toronto offices who share their best practices as well as hosting annual waste audits to find ways to improve the collection programs.
National Capital Commission, Ottawa. Federal government, land and building management; 597 employees. Hosts a formal Sustainability Champion award to recognize teams who lead in incorporating environmental best practices into their work.
Nature’s Path Foods Inc., Richmond, B.C. Food manufacturing; 241 employees. Formal Green IT program ensures that its used (and functioning) electronics are made available for reuse with nearly 100 employees taking home electronics last year.
Nestlé Canada Inc., Toronto. Food manufacturing; 2,378 employees. Employees across the country head out and volunteer with Ocean Wise, participating in local cleanups in neighbourhoods and parks across Canada.
Newfoundland Power Inc., St. John’s. Electric power distribution; 667 employees. Manages a formal pollinator program to transition power corridors, hydro right-of-ways and decommissioned sites into habitats through the planting of native flowering plant species.
NovAtel Inc., Calgary. Satellite communications systems; 518 employees. Employees’ wellness spending account can also be used for a variety of environmentally focused products and services, from transit passes to solar and wind energy systems.
Open Farm Inc., Toronto. Pet food manufacturing; 73 employees. Employee-led Graze Lightly Team has directed many sustainability initiatives, from a waste audit and the installation of bike racks in the lobby to the purchase of a Lomi composter for office waste.
OpenText Corporation, Waterloo, Ont. Software publishers; 2,690 employees. Supports alternative commuting with secure bicycle parking, repair stations and shower facilities as well as offering discounted transit passes and an online carpool matching program.
Parks Canada, Gatineau, Que. Federal government, heritage sites and parks management; 6,839 employees. Numerous waste management programs across the country, such as partnering with Haida Gwaii Clean Oceans Initiative to clear shoreline debris through formal cleanups.
PCL Construction, Edmonton. Industrial, commercial and institutional buildings construction; 3,115 employees. Encourages employees to volunteer with local environmental initiatives in their communities, including tree planting, beach cleanups and recycling awareness events.
Perkins&Will Canada Architects Co., Vancouver. Architectural services; 236 employees. Offers secure indoor bicycle parking, lockers and shower facilities; and employees can use funds from their wellness spending account for transit subsidies and other alternative transportation modes.
Pomerleau Inc., Montréal. Construction services; 3,610 employees. Installs EV charging stations at major project sites for employees and visitors, and offers employees up to $800 for the installation of home charging stations.
Printing House Ltd., The, Toronto. Commercial printing services; 495 employees. Long-standing commitment to address the impacts of its operations, starting with the CARE program (Concerned About Recycling and the Environment) first established in the 1980s.
Procter & Gamble Inc., Toronto. Consumer products manufacturing; 1,792 employees. Employee-led annual Green Challenge (started by one employee in 2018) is a two- to four-week challenge each April that encourages staff to adopt new habits to address their own environmental impacts.
Quantum Lifecycle Partners LP, Toronto. Electronic waste management services; 568 employees. Supports local e-waste collection drives and maintains a formal partnership with reBOOT Canada to refurbish and donate computers to people with limited access to technology.
RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust, Toronto. Real estate investment trusts; 505 employees. Portfolio of properties includes numerous green features, from rooftop bee apiaries (at eight locations) and rainwater collection to on-site wastewater treatment and geothermal heating and cooling systems.
Rogers Communications Inc., Toronto. Communications; 19,166 employees. Manages partnerships and programs to recycle, refurbish and resell a variety of e-waste, with over 6.6 million electronic devices diverted last year and half being recycled and half resold.
RONA Inc., Boucherville, Que. Retail; 9,880 employees. Installed EV charging stations at its Boucherville head office and offers dedicated EV parking spots for customers at ten locations.
Samsung Electronics Canada Inc., Mississauga. Communications equipment manufacturing; 710 employees. Ongoing formal Samsung Canada Product Trade-in Program ensures that used devices are either repurposed for reuse or recycled properly and not sent to landfills.
Sanofi Canada, Toronto. Pharmaceutical manufacturing; 2,135 employees. Manages an on-site herb and vegetable garden that employees maintain and harvest in addition to supporting beehives (with Plan Bee), selling produced honey to employees with all proceeds donated to charity.
SAP Canada Inc., Vancouver. Custom computer programming services; 3,104 employees. All new company cars used by employees are emission-free vehicles and all company-owned EV charging stations are powered with 100 per cent renewable electricity.
SaskTel, Regina. Telecommunications; 2,946 employees. Maintains a long-standing partnership with Computers for Schools Saskatchewan, which has helped the company refurbish and repurpose over 100,000 computers since 1993.
Siemens Canada Limited, Oakville, Ont. Engineering services; 2,398 employees. Employees can use their personal spending account for green living expenses, from transit passes to energy-efficient appliances to car or bike-sharing memberships.
Sleeman Breweries Ltd., Guelph, Ont. Breweries; 1,074 employees. Manages the unique Sleeman Better Water Fund in support of community-based water quality monitoring initiatives, donating funds thus far to Living Lakes Canada and Fondation Rivières.
Spin Master Ltd., Toronto. Children’s toys and entertainment; 803 employees. Hosts an annual sustainability market at the Toronto head office that features sustainability-minded vendors showcasing their products and services to employees.
Staples Canada ULC, Richmond Hill, Ont. Retail; 5,617 employees. Long-standing partnership with TerraCycle has led to the collection of over 10 million writing instruments; the equivalent of 142 grand pianos or 32 mid-sized automobiles.
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto. Hospitals; 6,821 employees. Recently planted 170 trees at the St. John’s Rehab Campus in partnership with Tree Canada and local volunteers.
Surrey, City of, Surrey, B.C. Municipal governments; 2,034 employees. Recently hosted the Clean-Blitz initiative, with employees heading out and collecting more than 3,000 items and removing over 2,600 bags of litter from city streets.
Symcor Inc., Mississauga. Data processing and support services; 1,306 employees. Recently created The Nook, a common area where employees can donate their used books, DVDs, Blu-rays and music CDs for a second life.
Sysco Canada Inc., Mississauga. Food service contractors; 4,791 employees. Maintains partnerships with many leading food sustainability organizations, including Ocean Wise, Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, Marine Stewardship Council and more.
TD Bank Group, Toronto. Banking; 63,935 employees. Vibrant Planet initiative supported projects ranging from replacing paved surfaces with greenery in Québec to an environmental leadership program for Indigenous people in British Columbia.
The Beer Store, Bolton, Ont. Beer, wine, and liquor retailers; 2,243 employees. Partnered with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, with employees forming a clean-up crew and heading out to pick up litter in a local park.
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, Toronto. Environment, conservation and wildlife organizations; 515 employees. Manages the formal Community Stewardship Program that oversees numerous community-based environmental restoration projects annually, working with approximately 5,000 participants.
Toronto Community Housing Corporation, Toronto. Administration of housing programs; 2,275 employees. Has ongoing initiatives to update its building portfolio through various green initiatives and energy-saving retrofits.
Toronto Zoo, Toronto. Zoos and botanical gardens; 336 employees. Partnered with Network of Nature to help plant its first on-site “mini forest” that includes more than 2,100 trees and is part of a larger initiative to restore over 200 acres of habitat.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc. / TMMC, Cambridge, Ont. Automobile manufacturing; 8,500 employees. Employees volunteer their green thumbs to help maintain the on-site TMMC Teaching Garden, which is modelled on the Japanese shumei gardening principle of growing food with minimal impact on the environment.
TransLink (South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority), New Westminster, B.C. Public transit; 8,369 employees. Head office building features solar shading and a solar reflecting roof, and has introduced numerous energy-saving features across its building portfolio.
Tru Earth Environmental Products Inc., Port Moody, B.C. Detergent manufacturing; 108 employees. Partners with Happy Stan’s Recycling Services to capture mixed paper, wood, metal, plastic and organics, ensuring a waste diversion rate of over 95 per cent.
UBC / University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Post-secondary schools, university; 16,599 employees. Encourages employees to consider two-wheeled commuting with discounted e-bike memberships and a $400 rebate for the purchase of their own e-bike.
Unilever Canada, Inc., Toronto. Consumer product manufacturing and distribution; 901 employees. Employee-led Sustainable Living Team organizes a number of environmental initiatives during the year including beach, park and river cleanups.
University Health Network, Toronto. Hospitals; 14,523 employees. Formal Operation Green program collects and diverts surplus medical supplies from the landfill and sends to communities where they are needed worldwide.
University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, B.C. Post-secondary schools, universities; 686 employees. Operates a unique LEED Platinum-certified biomass gasification facility that uses wood pellets and wood residue from a local sawmill to produce clean and renewable energy.
University of Toronto, Toronto. Post-secondary schools, university; 13,313 employees. Hosts an annual Sustainability Week with events on all three campuses, featuring a fair-trade market, repair cafe and documentary film screenings.
University of Victoria, Victoria. Post-secondary schools, university; 3,220 employees. Hosts a unique Repair Cafe event that brings employees, faculty and students together to share their diverse skill sets and assist in fixing electronics and other broken objects.
Vancouver Aquarium, Vancouver. Aquarium and marine conservation; 158 employees. Manages Canada’s only marine mammal rescue centre that works to rehabilitate sick, injured or orphaned marine animals and return them to their natural habitats.
Vancouver, City of, Vancouver. Municipal governments; 8,878 employees. As part of a formal Zero Waste 2040 strategy and goal, the city continues to expand initiatives and reduce single-use items in support of building a circular economy.
WalterFedy, Kitchener, Ont. Architectural and engineering services; 288 employees. Head office features numerous energy-saving features, including water-saving bathroom fixtures, energy-efficient lighting throughout, occupancy and daylight sensors.
Waste Management of Canada Corporation, Kitchener, Ont. Waste management services; 2,095 employees. Manages an ongoing program to transition its truck fleet to alternative fuels and has reduced overall vehicle emissions by 40 per cent over the past decade across North America.
Western University, London, Ont. Post-secondary schools, universities; 6,009 employees. Manages The Free Store where the entire campus community can donate items they no longer need as well as find new items they need, helping divert waste from the landfill.
YMCA of Greater Toronto, Toronto. Individual and family services; 3,600 employees. Helped establish a YMCA Green Network to connect, share knowledge and resources across North America and improve sustainability programs across Canada and the U.S.
York University, Toronto. Post-secondary schools, university; 4,997 employees. Manages the Sustainability Innovation Fund, inviting all faculty, employees and students to submit project proposals to help reduce the university’s overall emissions.
More from Canada’s Greenest Employers
Advertising feature produced by Canada’s Top 100 Employers, a division of Mediacorp Canada Inc. The Globe and Mail’s editorial department was not involved.