Health Care Climate Challenge
Healthcare can help forge a future with healthy hospitals and healthy people by implementing transformative climate solutions that reduce harmful pollution and strengthen resilience. The Health Care Climate Challenge is building a global coalition of healthcare institutions at the forefront of this transformation. The Climate Challenge has over 300 institutional participants, representing the interests of more than 22,000 hospitals and health centres in 37 countries.
An initiative of Health Care Without Harm, the Health Care Climate Challenge engages and equips healthcare institutions – from small clinics to large health systems to ministries of health – to commit to effective climate action while building collective impact across countries and across borders.
Each and every institution, no matter the size or location, has an important role to play in preparing for climate change by building resilience at the facility, system, and community level while helping to prevent the problem by reducing the health sector’s climate footprint.
The Health Care Climate Challenge is based on three pillars:
- Mitigation: Prevent emissions by reducing healthcare's own climate footprint.
- Resilience: Assess climate risks and prepare for the impacts of extreme weather and the shifting burden of disease.
- Leadership: Educate staff and the public about climate and health and promote policies to protect public health from climate change.
Participating institutions submit data annually on the three pillars through the Hippocrates Data Centre and, once they have done so, become eligible for a Climate Challenge Award.
The Health Care Climate Challenge is also the gateway to Race to Zero. Throughout 2021 and beyond, we're collaborating with the UNFCCC to build a robust coalition of healthcare institutions that are joining other sectors of society in committing to net zero emissions and creating a more inclusive and resilient economy.
