Professor Steven B. Young, School of Environment, Enterprise & Development (SEED) at University of Waterloo, Canada

Healthcare sustainability – measuring and managing greenhouse gas emissions of a hospital

Healthcare is a critical and complex service sector with direct and indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions amounting to 5%-10% of the national total in developed economies like Canada and Australia. There is growing interest in “environmental footprinting” of healthcare activities, aiming to identify key areas for improvement and climate action. Results of our comprehensive organizational life cycle assessment (LCA) of a 40-bed hospital in British Columbia, Canada for 2019 fiscal year, indicate that the total environmental footprint of the hospital includes, among other things, global warming potential of 3500–5000 t CO2 eq. (with 95% confidence). “Hotspots” in this footprint are attributable to energy and water use (and wastewater released), releases of anesthetic gases (which are potent GHGs), and the upstream production of the thousands of materials, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and other products used in the hospital.

Our novel methodological approach has broad applicability in healthcare and beyond. We compiled new LCA data for 200 goods and services used in healthcare—strategically selected to statistically represent the 2,927 unique products in the hospital’s “supply-chains”. The generalizability and comparability of results are considered in the context of the few environmental footprinting studies of hospitals conducted to date.

Areas of climate action in healthcare include engineering facilities management, procurement away from disposable products, substituting anesthetic gases, supply chain management of products and pharmaceuticals, and strategies that promote efficiency in delivery of patient care.