Health Care Without Harm (HCWH)’s groundbreaking report, Health care's climate footprint: How the health sector contributes to the global climate crisis and opportunities for action, is now available in French and Dutch, in addition to English. 

Published in 2019, the report provides the most comprehensive global analysis of healthcare’s contribution to climate change to date. The translations were made possible by the Commission Communautaire Commune (CoCom) in Belgium.

This report, produced by HCWH in collaboration with Arup, concluded that the healthcare sector is responsible for 4.4% of global net emissions and that if the global healthcare sector were a country, it would be the fifth-largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter on the planet. Additionally, the European Union as a bloc is the third-highest contributor to healthcare’s global GHG emissions, after the United States and China. 

Health Care’s Climate Footprint described the problem - our Operation Zero project aims to provide the solution. Operation Zero is a groundbreaking initiative that seeks to put the European healthcare sector on the path to net zero CO_² emissions, in line with European and international climate commitments.

It aims to produce the most comprehensive overview of the European healthcare sector’s carbon footprint to date, as well as create a methodology that can be applied by any national healthcare system that supports the production of national decarbonisation roadmaps to net zero emissions for healthcare, which will be piloted in four European countries.

In line with the Health Care’s Climate Footprint report’s policy recommendations, HCWH has launched its Global Road Map for Health Care Decarbonization: A navigational tool for achieving zero emissions with climate resilience and health equity on 14 April 2021. This tool is the first endeavour to chart a worldwide course toward zero emissions healthcare.

Read the full report in French, Dutch or English.

HCWH Europe gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Commission Communautaire Commune (CoCom) in Belgium for the translation of Health Care’s Climate Footprint report into French and Dutch.