Decarbonising the Healthcare Sector: A Roadmap for G20 Countries

The climate crisis is at its core a public health crisis. Timely, appropriate and comprehensive response by all nations is imperative to prevent economic and social crises associated with the growing burden of climate impacts on human health and health systems. To deliver quality healthcare, health facilities – infrastructure and supply chains – must be structurally and functionally resilient. They should neither contribute to climate change nor be impacted by it. The health workforce should be prepared for and capable of responding to climate risks and impacts. Healthcare facilities collectively contribute nearly 5 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, 71 percent of it coming from the supply chain.1 To align itself to the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement, the health sector must also decarbonise. This Policy Brief recommends that G20 countries adopt the steps outlined in the ‘Global Roadmap for Health Care Decarbonisation’2 of the global NGO Health Care Without Harm to secure public health and achieve net-zero healthcare.