Creating a culture of sustainability starts with practical, hands-on initiatives that engage employees: 'Canada's Greenest Employers' for 2025 are announced

TORONTO, April 22, 2025 /CNW/ - Employers across Canada are making their organizational cultures more sustainable by engaging employees in practical, hands-on green initiatives in the workplace and the community. That's the message from this year's Canada's Greenest Employers, announced this morning by Mediacorp Canada Inc., organizers of the annual Canada's Top 100 Employers project.

"As with our other editorial projects, we evaluate employers from the perspective of a job-seeker," says Chantel Watkins, assistant editor at Mediacorp. "While big-ticket goals like reducing greenhouse gas emissions and offsetting carbon are important for society, we look for initiatives that directly engage employees in creating greener organizations. These programs embed sustainability as a value within an employer's culture for the long term."

Green initiatives at this year's winners offer ample opportunities for employees to get involved. Examples include a community garden and fruit orchard at Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ont., as well as Cedar Glen, a 263-acre property maintained by the YMCA of Greater Toronto that features an organic garden, apiaries and a maple syrup farm. Nature's Path Foods in Richmond, B.C., actively engages employees in a program that diverts 90% of its waste away from landfills, capturing everything from soft plastics and chopsticks to batteries and pens.

"A key benefit of these programs is how closely they align with the values of younger generations entering the workforce, who have been raised with the expectation of incorporating environmental considerations in their daily lives," adds Richard Yerema, executive editor of the project. "Whether it's a program by FortisAlberta to protect wildlife in areas where it operates or a partnership that Sekisui Diagnostics in Charlottetown has with a local conservation trust to clean beaches and plant trees across PEI, younger employees can see when their employer is 'walking the talk' on the environment."

Now in its 18^th year, Canada's Greenest Employers is an editorial competition that recognizes the employers that lead the nation in creating a culture of environmental awareness. Competition winners, selected by editors at Canada's Top 100 Employers, are evaluated using four main criteria: (1) unique environmental initiatives or programs they have developed; (2) whether they have been successful in reducing their own environmental footprint; (3) whether their employees are involved in these programs and contribute unique skills; and (4) whether their environmental initiatives have become linked to the employer's public identity, attracting new employees or customers. The competition is open to any employer with its head office or principal place of business in Canada.

Founded in 1992, Mediacorp Canada Inc. is the nation's largest publisher of employment periodicals. Since 1999, the Toronto-based publisher has managed the Canada's Top 100 Employers project, which includes 19 regional and special-interest editorial competitions that reach millions of Canadians annually through a variety of magazine and newspaper partners, including The Globe and Mail. Mediacorp also operates Eluta.ca, the largest Canadian job search engine, which has been used by millions of Canadians to find new job postings and discover what the nation's best employers are offering. 

The full list of Canada's Greenest Employers (2025) was announced this morning in a special magazine published online in The Globe and Mail and on Eluta.ca. Detailed 'reasons for selection' for each of this year's winners, as well as hundreds of stories and photos about their initiatives, were published today by the editors and are accessible via the competition homepage.

Join the discussion about today's announcement on social media:
Instagram & Facebook: @topemployers
Twitter/X: @top_employers
Hashtags: #GreenEmployers, #topemployers2025

SOURCE Mediacorp Canada Inc.

Further information: Chantel Watkins, Assistant Editor, [email protected]