Health sector is a major contributor to climate crisis

A new report by Health Care Without Harm has provided the first-ever estimate of healthcare’s global climate footprint in Europe and urged for zero emissions.

The research claims that, if the global healthcare sector were a country, it would be the fifth-largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter on the planet, with the GHG emissions of the global healthcare sector equating to the equivalent of 514 coal-fired power plants.

Furthermore, as the third largest emitter, the EU healthcare sector now accounts for 12 per cent of the global healthcare climate footprint. Therefore, the report argues for the transformation of the healthcare sector so that it is aligned with the Paris Agreement goal of limiting climate change to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, said: “Health sector facilities are the operational heart of service delivery, protecting health, treating patients, and saving lives. Yet health sector facilities are also a source of carbon emissions, contributing to climate change. Places of healing should be leading the way, not contributing to the burden of disease.”

Dame Jackie Daniel, CEO of Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, added: “Our sector is uniquely positioned to tackle the greatest threat to health this century, with our overriding intention to ‘first, do no harm’ giving us the moral obligation to avoid health-harming pollution caused by our activities. The report rightly highlights that immediate action is required, something that we publicly committed to in June this year, by becoming the first healthcare organisation in the UK to declare a climate emergency and deliver zero carbon care by 2040.”