The healthcare sector is responsible for an estimated 4.4% of global CO2 emissions — more than the aviation industry. Hospitals are energy-intensive facilities, pharmaceutical manufacturing generates significant chemical waste, and medical supply chains span the globe.
Yet healthcare has been slow to address its environmental footprint. The sector’s primary mission — patient care — understandably takes precedence, and environmental investments compete with clinical spending for limited budgets.
This is changing. The NHS in England committed to net zero by 2040 for direct emissions and 2045 for supply chain emissions, setting a global precedent. Indian hospital chains are increasingly seeking green building certification, renewable energy procurement, and biomedical waste management optimisation.
RSustain’s healthcare advisory covers energy management, waste management (including biomedical waste), green building certification (LEED/IGBC for healthcare facilities), and GHG inventory development. We also help pharmaceutical companies address Scope 3 emissions in their supply chains.
The healthcare sector’s environmental impact is a health issue in itself. Air pollution, water contamination, and climate change all drive disease burden. Hospitals that reduce their environmental footprint are fulfilling their healing mission in the broadest sense.