How can global collaboration advance sustainable healthcare?
The health of people and the health of the planet are inextricably linked. As the impacts of climate change intensify – from rising temperatures and forest fires to deteriorating air quality and the spread of infectious diseases – hospitals and healthcare systems are facing unprecedented challenges. While hospitals are at the frontline of responding to climate-related health crises, they are also significant contributors to environmental degradation. With their non-stop operations, energy-intensive infrastructure, and complex supply chains, hospitals represent some of the most resource-demanding institutions in society. This dual role highlights the urgent need for transformation.
Greatly increasing the sustainability of hospitals is therefore a vital response, positioning healthcare institutions not just as treatment centres, but as leaders in sustainability, resilience, and mitigation of the effects of climate change. Through evolving practices across operations, supported by strong leadership, hospitals can reduce their environmental footprint while safeguarding health equity and community wellbeing. Sustainability in healthcare is no longer optional but essential: hospitals must embrace their responsibility to pioneer environmentally conscious practices that ensure both human and planetary health.
At the same time, this transformation represents a remarkable opportunity. By embracing sustainability, hospitals can improve efficiency, reduce long-term costs, and build resilience, strengthening both their environmental and financial health. However, no hospital or health system can achieve this transformation alone. Global collaboration is essential, and by sharing knowledge, aligning standards, and working collectively across borders, the healthcare sector can accelerate progress toward sustainable operations worldwide. This article explores the inevitable responsibilities hospitals face in responding to climate change, presents examples of emerging good practice, and highlights why this moment offers a unique opportunity for the health sector to lead the transition toward a healthier, more sustainable future.
Impacts of climate change on health and healthcare
Climate change is increasingly recognized as one of the greatest public health threats of the 21st century. Rising global temperatures have led to more frequent and severe heatwaves, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations such as the elderly, children, and individuals with chronic diseases. Air pollution, worsened by reliance on fossil fuels, contributes to respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular problems, and premature deaths. Meanwhile, changing ecosystems and weather patterns are expanding the reach of vector-borne diseases like malaria, dengue, and Lyme disease, straining healthcare systems in countries across advanced and emerging economic statuses. These are but a few of the severe effects a changing climate is having on human health.
Critically important to the public health response, hospitals are on the frontlines of these challenges. Yet they are not merely passive responders – they are also significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Their dependence on continuous energy supplies, complex logistics, and high-consumption infrastructure means they suffer from, and exacerbate, climate-related risks. Disruptions to fossil fuel delivery, extreme weather events, and supply chain vulnerabilities expose healthcare institutions to operational fragility. This dual role underscores the urgency for hospitals to integrate climate resilience and sustainability into their core strategies. By doing so, they can both safeguard population health and reduce their own environmental footprint.
Energy efficiency in the healthcare sector
Hospitals are among the most energy-intensive facilities in modern society. Their continuous operations, complex infrastructure, and reliance on specialized equipment make them significant consumers of electricity, heating, and cooling. This demand contributes not only to high operating costs but also to considerable greenhouse gas emissions. Improving energy efficiency is therefore a crucial first step in reducing the environmental footprint of healthcare institutions.
Practical interventions include insulating pipes and ductwork, maintaining and upgrading ventilation systems, revising boiler performance, and repairing leaks to prevent energy loss. Retrofitting older buildings with energy-efficient technologies – such as LED lighting, automated energy management systems, and high-efficiency medical equipment – can also reduce environmental impacts while generating substantial long-term savings.
These investments and others reduce maintenance costs, extend the lifespan of infrastructure, and lower emissions, thereby directly supporting climate change mitigation. For example, hospitals that commit to purchasing only energy-efficient lighting and equipment ensure that every upgrade contributes to a more sustainable future. Therefore, by prioritizing energy efficiency, healthcare institutions can achieve immediate gains while laying the groundwork for more ambitious sustainability initiatives.
Energy transition and renewable integration
While improving efficiency reduces waste and lowers costs, it must be complemented by a broader transition toward renewable energy. Hospitals have a unique opportunity to lead by example in this area. By investing in appropriate technologies such as solar panels, biomass boilers, geothermal systems, wind turbines, or cogeneration plants, they can significantly reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. In addition to on-site generation, hospitals can engage in renewable procurement through contracts with clean energy providers or by lobbying for public funding that expands regional capacity. Such measures not only decrease carbon emissions but also build resilience against energy disruptions, ensuring that critical health services remain reliable during crises.
The financial dimension of this transition is equally important. Many hospitals have established “green funds” where savings from energy efficiency improvements are reinvested into renewable projects. This approach creates a self-sustaining model for transformation, allowing institutions to scale up investments while demonstrating fiscal responsibility. Beyond the direct benefits, steering the economic power of the health system toward renewable energy also helps reduce costs for other hospitals and institutions, as large-scale investment drives down prices through economies of scale. In this way, hospitals not only decarbonize their own operations but also accelerate the affordability and accessibility of clean energy across society.
Behavioural change and workforce engagement
Technical solutions alone cannot achieve lasting sustainability; the behaviours and daily practices of the hospital workforce are equally vital. Healthcare professionals make countless small decisions each day – turning off unused lights, conserving water, or choosing to reuse rather than discard materials – that collectively influence an institution’s environmental footprint. Encouraging such practices requires continuous training and communication that embeds sustainability into the workplace culture. When staff understand the tangible impact of their actions, they are more likely to adopt and maintain environmentally responsible habits.
Incentives are another powerful driver of behavioural change. These can take many forms, ranging from financial rewards to workplace recognition and professional development opportunities. Crucially, effective incentives align with the values of healthcare workers, who are often motivated by a strong sense of purpose and responsibility toward patients and the community. By tailoring recognition programmes to reinforce sustainability goals – such as waste reduction or energy conservation – hospitals can engage workers across disciplines. Even modest successes, like reducing energy use in a particular department, can generate momentum and encourage wider adoption. In this way, healthcare institutions transform their workforce into active partners in the transition toward greener operations, making sustainability not just a technical goal but a shared cultural norm.
The Geneva Sustainability Centre and global context
An integral part of the IHF, the Geneva Sustainability Centre was founded in 2022 to equip hospital leaders with the knowledge, skills, and tools needed to respond to the climate crisis and its implications for healthcare. Its vision is to empower hospitals to become leaders in sustainability within their communities, driving change not only through internal practices but also through their influence on wider social and environmental systems.
Its mission reflects a proactive approach to healthcare leadership, encouraging hospitals to move beyond compliance and incremental improvements towards achieving a net positive impact. By offering resources, training, and structured frameworks, the GSC positions hospitals at the forefront of climate action, demonstrating that healthcare institutions can be powerful drivers of societal resilience and environmental stewardship.
The Geneva Sustainability Centre sustainability framework
To help institutions operationalize sustainability, the framework addresses both environmental and social dimensions of healthcare. Unlike commercial or industrial organizations, hospitals cannot be assessed through a conventional environmental, social, governance (ESG) lens. They operate continuously, rely on specialized equipment that consumes large amounts of energy, and must guarantee uninterrupted services even during crises. The framework addresses these complexities by tailoring approaches to healthcare, integrating environmental responsibility with the core obligation to provide safe, equitable, and effective care.
The first domain focuses on reducing the environmental impact of hospitals through responsible resource use, sustainable procurement, low-carbon clinical practices, and resilient infrastructure. The second emphasizes health, equity, and wellbeing, ensuring that sustainability efforts are also socially just by addressing vulnerabilities and social determinants of health. The third centres on leadership and governance, requiring transparent reporting, workforce engagement, and collaboration with stakeholders.
Taken together, these domains provide a roadmap that enables healthcare organizations to align with international standards, enhance operational efficiency, and reinforce their role as leaders in environmental and community health. Importantly, they also strengthen financial security by ensuring consistent savings and long-term returns on investment for hospitals.
Taking action with the Geneva Sustainability Centre: Masterclasses, SAT, and accreditation
In addition to its framework, the Geneva Sustainability Centre offers services that help leaders develop the required competencies to put sustainability principles into action in their organizations. Central to these services are its sustainability masterclasses, which provide targeted training for executives and senior healthcare professionals. These sessions are designed to build both knowledge and capacity, offering participants strategies and good practices to embed sustainability into hospital operations and culture.
Complementing the masterclasses is the Sustainability Accelerator Tool (SAT), which enables hospitals to assess their current performance, identify strengths, and receive tailored guidance to improve. By combining self-assessment with expert support, the SAT helps organizations develop action plans that are both realistic and ambitious. It also supports ongoing monitoring, ensuring that goals remain measurable and achievable over time.
The team also supports hospitals through accreditation and certification pathways. By aligning institutions with internationally recognized standards, these services help organizations demonstrate accountability, benchmark progress, and strengthen credibility with patients, staff, and stakeholders. Accreditation not only drives continuous improvement, but also reassures communities that hospitals are committed to the highest levels of environmental and social responsibility.
Together, the masterclasses, SAT, and accreditation support form a powerful package: they equip leaders with knowledge, provide practical mechanisms for implementation, and reinforce sustainability through external validation. In doing so, the GSC bridges the gap between vision and practice, accelerating the shift toward sustainable, more resilient healthcare systems.
Hospitals as champions of a healthy and sustainable future
Hospitals stand at the intersection of human health and environmental stewardship. As climate change accelerates, the responsibility of healthcare institutions to lead in sustainability has never been more urgent. The evidence is clear: improving energy efficiency, transitioning to renewables, fostering behavioural change among staff, and embedding sustainability into governance and leadership are not optional measures but essential strategies for resilience.
Equally important, sustainability in healthcare is also about strengthening financial security. By reducing waste, lowering energy costs, and reinvesting savings into long-term renewable strategies, hospitals achieve a return on investment that benefits both their operations and their communities. As large-scale adopters, healthcare institutions also help drive down the cost of clean technologies across society, accelerating the global transition toward sustainability.
Ultimately, the journey toward sustainable healthcare is about redefining the mission of medicine itself. Beyond treating disease, hospitals can act as leaders for healthier societies and a healthier planet. And by embracing sustainability as a core value, hospitals fulfil their mission to “first do no harm” in its broadest sense, ensuring that future generations inherit not only resilient healthcare systems but also a world where health and environment are protected together.
