Decarbonizing Healthcare in India : Pioneering Sustainability in Healthcare Infrastructure
By Ravideep Singh
"The world's health sector facilities churn out CO2 … This is perhaps ironic — as medical professionals our commitment is to 'first, do no harm.' Places of healing should be leading the way, not contributing to the burden of disease." - Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General, World Health Organization.
In the global pursuit of sustainability, healthcare facilities have emerged as unexpected contributors to carbon emissions, presenting a critical challenge that India's rapidly expanding healthcare sector must urgently address. As the country's healthcare infrastructure grows to meet the needs of its population, integrating sustainability into every aspect of development and operation becomes imperative.
The Environmental Footprint of Healthcare
Healthcare facilities are significant energy consumers, relying heavily on fossil fuels and employing practices contributing to their environmental footprint. With India facing escalating healthcare demands, there is a pressing need to adopt sustainable solutions that mitigate carbon emissions and promote environmental stewardship.
Healthcare is faced with threefold tasks: Decarbonising healthcare delivery and building resilience, decarbonising the healthcare supply chain, and accelerating decarbonisation in the wider society and economy. Establishing a trajectory to zero emissions will require simultaneous action in the three above-mentioned areas, thereby setting an example in the delivery of Climate Change.
This can be delivered through seven high-impact actions leading to long-term resolution.
Scaling up measurable healthcare climate action while implementing new initiatives requiring research and innovation. We must invest in zero-emissions buildings and infrastructure. Ensure every healthcare building promotes energy efficiency and climate resilience. Transition to zero-emissions sustainable travel and transport within the sector.
Power healthcare with 100% clean and renewable electricity. The sector will likely witness deeper emission reductions across infrastructure and delivery by investing in further research, such as seeding climate and health innovation centres.
Establishing a Green' Universal Healthcare' solution: Integrating sustainability with Universal Health Coverage. The solution must also work towards developing health sector-based residual emissions management solutions. Implement circular healthcare and sustainable healthcare waste management immediately.
Establish greater health system effectiveness by integrating Climate-Smart Healthcare services and infrastructure into emergency response and pandemic preparedness. The COVID-19 pandemic also saw the rise of Telehealth, a system pioneered by technological intervention. If used with strategic planning, Telehealth could lead the way in communicating awareness in the direction chosen towards zero emissions.
Reinventing finance systems to support people as they invest in healthcare, the financial sector, and many of its health-sector-focused financial mechanisms can help drive the industry toward zero emissions by incentivising decarbonisation wherever possible, providing business models that build in focus on health and resilience and integrating the philosophy of a circular economy.
Towards Sustainable Healthcare Delivery
Chhattisgarh exemplifies sustainable healthcare infrastructure with its initiative to solarise all health centres. This initiative reduces operational costs and carbon emissions and strengthens energy resilience in healthcare delivery, serving as a model for nationwide adoption of sustainable practices.
Decarbonising healthcare in India is pivotal in leading global healthcare sectors towards sustainability. By prioritising green practices in infrastructure development and operation, India can mitigate environmental impact while ensuring robust healthcare systems for its population.
Way forward
As India continues its journey towards sustainable healthcare infrastructure, collaboration between government, healthcare providers, and industry stakeholders will be crucial. Leveraging innovation, adopting best practices, and committing to sustainability will establish India as a frontrunner in global healthcare systems, demonstrating that environmental stewardship and healthcare excellence are inseparable goals.
Author
Ravideep Singh is the associate director at Creative Designer Architects (CDA), an interdisciplinary architectural practice that is an established design leader in healthcare, institutional and commercial projects.