Decarbonising Healthcare Ravideep Singh

“The world’s health sector facilities churn out CO2 … This is perhaps ironic — as medical professionals our commitment is to ‘first, do no harm.’ Places of healing should be leading the way, not contributing to the burden of disease.” - Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General, World Health Organization.  

Healthcare makes up about 4.4% of net global climate emissions. Under a business-as-usual scenario, absolute global emissions would grow enormously from a 2014 baseline and more than triple by 2050, reaching 6 gig tons a year.  

Climate change also raises a series of human rights issues – collectively referred to as climate justice. 

While a commitment to social equity is at the heart of all human healthcare endeavours, it is important that healthcare institutions evolve and lead the way in establishing a trajectory to zero emissions. 

Healthcare’s climate emissions are mainly caused by creation of infrastructure, use of coal, gas to power hospitals, healthcare related travel & supply chain management. Even if the world’s governments were to meet their Paris Agreement commitments up to 2017, healthcare’s annual global climate footprint would still increase, reaching more than three gig tons a year by 2050. 

Healthcare is hence faced with a threefold task. They are: - Decarbonising healthcare delivery and building resilience, decarbonising the healthcare supply chain, and accelerating decarbonisation in the wider society and economy. To establish a trajectory to zero emissions will require simultaneous action in the three above mentioned areas. Thereby to be an example in the delivery of Climate Change. 

This can be then delivered through Seven High – Impact Actions which lead the way in long term resolution. 

Scaling up measurable healthcare climate action while implementing new initiatives requiring research & innovation. We must Invest in zero-emissions buildings and infrastructure. Ensure every healthcare building promotes energy efficiency and climate resilience. Transition to zero emissions sustainable travel and transport within the sector. 

Power healthcare with 100% clean and renewable electricity. By investing in further research, such as seeding climate and health innovation centres, the sector will likely witness deeper emission reductions across infrastructure and delivery. 

By establishing a Green ’Universal Healthcare ‘solution: integrating sustainability with Universal Health Coverage. The solution must also work towards developing health sector-based residual emissions management solutions. Implement circular healthcare and sustainable healthcare waste management immediately. 

Establish greater health system effectiveness. Integrating Climate-Smart Healthcare services and infrastructure into emergency response and pandemic preparedness. The COVID-19 pandemic also saw the rise of Telehealth as a system pioneered by technological intervention. If used with strategic planning, Telehealth could lead the way in communicating awareness in the direction chosen towards zero emissions. 

By reinventing finance systems to support healthy people on a healthy planet. As it invests in healthcare, the financial sector and many of its health-sector-focused financial mechanisms can help drive the sector toward zero emissions by incentivizing decarbonization wherever possible, providing business models that build in focus on health and resilience and integrate the philosophy of a circular economy. 

Change is already afoot in low and middle-income countries, in many of which low-carbon or net zero strategies sit in the context of achieving climate resilience. In the state of Chhattisgarh, India the government has committed to solarizing all its health centres and to make them energy efficient in their operations. At CDA, we have designed hospital buildings that are accredited by the LEED rating systems to perform towards reducing infrastructure and operational heat gains. 

As of 2020, active healthcare construction projects tracked by one global research firm were valued at more than USD $500 billion dollars (including all projects from announced to execution stage) Project Pipelines together with a significant number of existing healthcare buildings that will be retrofitted and refurbished over the next 30 years, it is clear that buildings and infrastructure is a huge area that the sector must focus on if it is to decarbonize.