Three health authorities pave the way for zero emissions healthcare
Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) Europe is partnering with three national and regional health authorities to develop and pilot a new methodology that can be applied by any European health ministry to produce a net-zero decarbonisation roadmap for their healthcare system.
The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport with the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (The Netherlands), the Department of Epidemiology Lazio regional health service (Italy), and the Central Administration of the Health System (Portugal) are working with HCWH Europe and Arup on Operation Zero.
Operation Zero is a groundbreaking project that aims to put the European healthcare sector on the path to net-zero carbon emissions, in line with European and international climate commitments.
"We recognise the Operation Zero project as a much-needed step in the promotion of healthcare sector action regarding climate change mitigation, and this is why we decided to embrace this project. We believe Operation Zero could give us relevant knowledge to work towards carbon emission reduction in the Portuguese public healthcare sector."
Victor Herdeiro, Chairman of the Board of Directors - Central Administration of the Health System, Portugal
The project consists of two components. The first is the development of a methodology that will guide health authorities in developing a roadmap for the decarbonisation of their own healthcare system, while supporting system resilience and improving health outcomes.
The second component of the project is to pilot this methodology by supporting three health authorities to generate their own detailed climate footprint analyses and decarbonisation roadmaps. Through these pilots, HCWH Europe will gain valuable feedback on the practicalities and limitations of developing national/regional decarbonisation roadmaps and plans that will help to build a more robust methodology and ultimately drive action.
"DEPLAZIO is looking forward to teaming up with HCWH Europe for Operation Zero, developing a roadmap for decarbonising the healthcare system in the Lazio region, and testing the methodology in specific settings at a local level. This comes at a crucial time when public health policy needs state of the art evidence to address sustainable and equitable recovery and resilience following the Covid-19 pandemic and to prepare for future challenges from climate change."
Marina Davoli, Director - the Department of Epidemiology Lazio Regional Health Service, Italy
HCWH Europe’s vision is that every European country develops a national decarbonisation plan for its healthcare sector, with the ultimate goal of Europe achieving a zero-emissions healthcare sector by 2050 at the latest.
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