If the global health care sector were a country, it would be the fifth-largest greenhouse gas emitter on the planet, according to Health care’s climate footprint: How the health sector contributes to the global climate crisis and opportunities for action, a report by Health Care Without Harm in collaboration with Arup.
The report provides the most comprehensive global analysis of health care’s contribution to climate change to date. Specifically, the report:
- Provides a global estimate of health care’s greenhouse gas emissions, as well as provide 43 country estimates broken down by Scopes 1, 2, and 3.
- Examines how energy, food, anesthetic gases, and transportation contribute to health care’s global climate footprint.
- Identifies opportunities for further research and methodological development that would support the sector in its efforts to understand and address its climate footprint.
- Outlines a series of international, national and subnational policy recommendations for health care climate action.
The report was released for the first time in Asia during the recently concluded 5th Green Hospitals Asian Conference held at the GGHH-member Khoo Teck Puat Hospital in Singapore.
As cited by the Report's findings, 4 out of the Top 10 healthcare carbon emitter countries are from the Asia region.
As a diverse, developing region, it is important to point out, that despite being in the Health Care Climate Footprint's Top 10, Asia is not only reeling from the hardships of inaccessible health care services, worsening burden of diseases and lack of an encompassing disaster preparedness plan, but most especially from the brunt of the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis caused by the first-world countries such as the United States.
The 5th Green Hospitals Asian Conference aimed to engage with this global issue through this year's theme, Towards a Sustainable, Climate-resilient Asian Healthcare, that champions hospitals and health professionals in Asia through the Global Green and Healthy Hospitals Network as the only sector with a healing mission, in moving away from harmful, unsustainable and pollution-causing healthcare operations and transition to a clean and renewable medical equipment, lifestyle, energy source and overall hospital system.###
To learn more about the Health Care Climate Footprint Report, click this link or visit noharm-uscanada.org/ClimateFootprintReport
To join our campaigns for a greener healthcare in Asia, send a message to infoasia@hcwh.org