Healthcare supply chains contribute between 60-80% of the carbon footprint of health services. In England's NHS, medicines, medical equipment, and other purchased goods and services alone contribute 66% of its total carbon footprint. Therefore, reducing emissions from these supply chains is crucial for achieving low-carbon healthcare.
The NHS aims to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2045 across its entire footprint, including those from goods and services procured from partners and suppliers. To meet this goal, the NHS in England is taking several key steps to encourage suppliers to decarbonize the healthcare supply chain:
Engaging Stakeholders:
The NHS is engaging with approximately 80,000 suppliers across various sectors through forums and attendance at trade bodies and supplier events. For targeted engagement, the NHS conducted a supplier survey in 2021.
Setting Clear Expectations:
The "Delivering a Net Zero National Health Service" report, published in 2020, outlines a vision for a sustainable NHS supply chain. By 2030, the NHS aims to cease purchasing from suppliers that do not align with its net zero ambitions.
Supporting Implementation:
The development of tailored, user-friendly resources for both suppliers and procurement teams, along with regular webinars, is essential to support the effective implementation of sustainability measures.
Accelerating Change through Recognition:
To highlight and acknowledge good practices among suppliers, the NHS has introduced Evergreen, an online self-assessment tool. This tool provides suppliers with a maturity score based on their alignment with NHS sustainability priorities. Suppliers can publicly use this score to demonstrate and enhance the credibility of their sustainability commitments.
While these methods seem effective in achieving a sustainable and low-carbon healthcare system in England, Australia has also adopted certain strategies and movements in recent years to achieving net zero emissions.
On 3rd December 2023, the Australian federal government launched the National Health and Climate Strategy, which outlines priorities for the next five years to address the health and wellbeing impacts of climate change in Australia. The strategy sets out actions to help build healthy, climate-resilient communities and a sustainable, resilient, high-quality, net zero health system.
To further support this initiative, the Australian federal government also invested $5 million in climate and health research to accelerate evidence-based interventions specific to Australian settings, reduce health impacts associated with climate events in Australia, and mitigate the impacts of climate change on the nation’s healthcare system.
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2moexciting time to be in health care waste management