Sustainable Healthcare
At WHA we are seeing rising concern across the healthcare sector about the health harms already being caused by climate change. The latest IPCC report predicting a 4oC rise in global temperature this century has heightened concern about the negative impacts of climate change on the health and wellbeing of today’s children & young people in their lifetimes.
Human health and equity must be central to all climate change policy decisions. State and territory governments have recognised this. We would encourage our national government to do so as well.
The health sector itself contributes an estimated 7% of Australia’s annual carbon emissions. That’s why our member hospitals are taking concrete steps to reduce their own emissions significantly by 2030. However, there is an urgent need for national leadership across the economy and society to make a meaningful difference.
Our commitment
Amidst increasing evidence that global warming is having significant impact on our communities, WHA is committed to supporting member health services to share know-how, ideas and strategies to:
- increase their use of renewable energy
- source sustainably grown/manufactured food and other supplies
- minimize waste generation & greenhouse emissions
- recycle water
Taking action:
WHA Green & Healthy Hospitals Hot Topic
We invite members to join the Green & Healthy Hospitals group on our members community. Here you can share questions, ideas, comments and resources in this forum related to local efforts to make a difference.
Partnerships
We have joined the Global Green & Healthy Hospitals network, which provides a wealth of resources to support interested health services to take measurable action to reduce their environmental footprint. All member hospitals of WHA and CHA are encouraged to consider joining the GGHH
