The healthcare sector is pioneering efforts to reduce its climate footprint by adopting new technologies and increasingly sustainable practices. The objective is not only to reduce emissions but to improve patient care at the same time.
Global climate commitments mean that every aspect of human activity needs to make steps to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions, from industrial transport and agriculture to power generation and home heating. Healthcare is no exception and the sector is putting in place guiding principles and implementing initiatives aimed at decreasing its carbon footprint and increasing sustainability in a number of important areas.
Climate change is projected to impose massive health costs in the coming decades, as the increased spread of infectious diseases, heat-related illnesses, emergent pathogens and respiratory problems are among the ailments that might become more prevalent. The sector’s global emissions contribution is estimated to be around 5%, so if healthcare were a country, it would rank in the top five biggest polluters.
Society’s understanding of human activity’s impact on the climate is constantly improving, meaning more informed decisions can now be made to address that impact most effectively.
Technology is playing a major role in this quest to go greener, and the development of next-generation healthcare products in particular has the potential to reduce emissions in a way that is perhaps not on the public radar.
Many people who live with lung diseases, such as asthma and COPD, rely on inhalers to manage their condition and relieve their symptoms so they can lead healthy, active lives. One type of inhaler, metered dose inhalers (MDIs), uses a propellant to administer medicine.
Most current MDIs use a propellant with a global warming potential (GWP) many times greater than carbon dioxide’s.1 European legislation is progressively limiting the use of these gases in MDIs and other countries are considering similar measures, so manufacturers must take this into account.
The use of MDIs varies across countries but the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) estimates that they could account for around 3% of healthcare’s total carbon footprint,2 while pharmaceutical firm GSK says they represent nearly half of company-wide emissions.
Another option, dry powder inhalers (DPIs), already exist and are propellant-free, widely available in many markets and have a lower carbon footprint than most current MDIs. When it comes to cold storage technologies, which are essential for healthcare products like vaccines, energy efficiency improvements and smart management systems offer a way to reduce power demand, emissions and costs.
Policy changes in supply chains are essential as they account for 50% of emissions in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector.
GEA, one of the world’s leading suppliers of cold storage systems, has implemented initiatives like waste-heat recovery, while twenty-four health sector companies now sponsor an education programme that provides renewable electricity education and procurement support at no cost for their suppliers.
The goal is to empower suppliers to make tangible strides toward achieving decarbonisation goals.
Clean energy dividend
Direct emissions from medical care facilities like hospitals are a large contributor to the sector’s climate footprint. In the United States, hospitals generate more than a third of all healthcare-linked emissions.3
This is not surprising, given that hospitals are often large facilities with high round-the-clock power demands.
Nicosia hospital, the largest on the island of Cyprus, recently inaugurated a new solar park that sits above the hospital car park. It will provide 1.3 megawatts of solar during peak periods.4
Behaviour changes
Big emissions savings can also be unlocked by enabling patients to reduce their carbon footprint, triggering more society-wide benefits.
Transport emissions are a stubborn source of emissions, so reducing the number of unnecessary trips people take to hospitals, doctor surgeries and other medical facilities will have a positive impact. This is possible by supporting the spread of digital technologies, which can reduce the number of unnecessary in-person consultations. The Covid pandemic showed that remote work, including in healthcare, can play a positive role.
Hospitals across the world are also collaborating with local public transport companies and authorities to offer cleaner alternatives like bus and rail services for non-emergency patients.
Digitalisation and the switch from paper medical records not only reduces waste but also keeps patient files more up to date and accessible. That is a win-win for sustainability and patients.
Even greater societal benefits can be generated by reducing the incidence of diseases in the first place, through vaccination programmes in particular.
In it together
Healthcare is just one cog in society’s larger emissions-generating machine, so while significant steps can be made to reduce its carbon footprint, through deploying new technologies and green practices, this mission requires effort from everyone. If similarly ambitious policies and initiatives are not replicated in other sectors, then healthcare’s progress will be undermined and even negated by failures elsewhere.
The World Bank estimates that excess healthcare costs due to climate change in low- and middle-income countries could top $21 trillion by 2050, when factoring in reduced access to basic needs like food security, safe drinking water and sanitation, and clean air.5 Ultimately, the more that climate change is successfully mitigated, the better it is for healthcare.
Progress is possible and by working together, healthcare organisations and institutions can prioritise patients and help the climate at the same time.
Coverage of this topic was made possible with the support of GSK, while all research and writing were conducted independently by The Brussels Times
Sources:
1 https://bmjopenrespres.bmj.com/content/bmjresp/12/1/e002977.full.pdf
2 https://media.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/press-releases/e2bc2992-5f7d-43fd-8688-ec827adfde83/new-dashboard-launched-to-help-reduce-co2-emissions-from-inhalers
3 https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/explainer/2022/apr/how-us-health-care-system-contributes-climate-change#:~:text=What%20makes%20up%20the%20carbon,produced%20by%20the%20health%20sector.
4 https://www.shso.org.cy/en/prasini-energeia-kai-eksygchronismos-pragmatopoiithikan-ta-egkainia-tou-fotovoltaikou-parkou-sto-geniko-nosokomeio-lefkosias/
5 https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/health/brief/health-and-climate-change#:~:text=Climate%20change%20also%20exerts%20significant,1.3%25%20of%20their%20projected%20GDP.
