REDUCING HEALTHCARE SECTOR CARBON EMISSIONS TO PROMOTE PUBLIC HEALTH

To promote reducing carbon emissions from the healthcare sector through collaboration with other stakeholders; further,

To encourage members of the pharmacy workforce to seek out opportunities to engage in efforts to reduce carbon emissions in their workplaces and communities.

Rationale

ASHP acknowledges the scientific consensus on the adverse impact of carbon emissions on human health and the environment and recognizes the need to reduce carbon emissions, including from the healthcare sector. Climate change negatively impacts human health and increases strain on the healthcare system. Health-related consequences of climate change that lead to increased morbidity and mortality include but are not limited to heat-related illnesses, respiratory illnesses, and vector-borne diseases. The 2015 Lancet Commission on Health and Climate Change concluded that addressing climate change is the greatest public health opportunity of the 21st century and that failure to adequately address climate change could undo most of the past century’s progress in global health.

Carbon emissions are a target for addressing climate change. It has been estimated that the healthcare sector is responsible for 8.5% of carbon emissions in the U.S. Sources of healthcare carbon emissions rank as follows: healthcare facility operations (estimated to account for 7% of healthcare sector emissions); purchased sources of energy, heating, and cooling (11%); and healthcare sector procurements or supply chain for services and goods (>80%).

Healthcare organizations have been called upon to reduce their carbon footprint (“decarbonize”) as a measure to promote patient and public health. The federal government has goals to decrease carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 and to achieve net-zero levels by 2050. Many healthcare-related organizations have made climate change and decarbonization pledges, including the members of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate & Health and organizations engaged in the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Action Collaborative on Climate Change and as. In the fall of 2021, NAM launched the Action Collaborative on Decarbonizing the U.S. Health Sector (the “Climate Collaborative”), mobilizing four work groups: healthcare supply chain and infrastructure; healthcare delivery; health professional education and communication; and policy, financing, and metrics.

The pharmacy workforce has an important role in reducing carbon emissions from healthcare-related sources (Beechinor RJ et al. Climate change is here: what will the profession of pharmacy do about it? Am J Health-Syst Pharm. 2022; 79:1393-6). ASHP encourages collaboration with stakeholders that share a commitment to reducing carbon emissions from the healthcare sector and encourages members of the pharmacy workforce to seek out opportunities to engage in efforts to reduce carbon emissions in their workplaces and communities. To fill their roles in reducing carbon emissions, the pharmacy workforce will require education, training, and resources on emissions-reduction strategies. The development of evidence-based strategies will require research and dissemination of information on ways to reduce carbon emissions.