New year message from Practice Greenhealth

Ambitions for the new year

The turn of the new year often gives us a moment to pause and reflect on how far we’ve come toward the vision of a zero-emissions, climate-resilient, and equitable health sector.

Join me in celebrating these bright spots: 

• Executive teams are identifying climate change as a business risk five times more than in 2021. With a remarkable 90% increase in the number of facilities setting climate goals – and the number of facilities making formal climate change commitments doubling over the past four years – leadership is more engaged than ever.

• We’ve seen meaningful reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from anesthetic gases and the elimination of desflurane by more than half of our reporting provider partners. Compared with the previous year, the median MTCO2e (metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent) per OR procedure decreased by 11.7%, and the number of facilities that eliminated the use of the potent anesthetic gas desflurane increased from 29.6% to 61.3%.
   
• Over a third of hospital partners developed a climate resilience plan. Encouraged in part by national climate commitments, hospitals have stepped up to establish plans using our framework to address facility, community, and public infrastructure resilience in the face of a changing climate. More on this soon.

And we are committed to supporting our partners in further accelerating these successes. 

The hope for our future work comes from people like you. In 2024, thousands of individuals joined the conversation, and hundreds more have connected to strengthen their skills and knowledge to accelerate change. We’ve seen significant expansion with thousands of health professionals moving climate work within the walls of the hospital, in the community, and in policy and advocacy.  

You’ve told us that the most valuable aspect of your partnership with Practice Greenhealth is being part of a network transforming health care. You also told us that CleanMed is the best place to learn, connect, and strengthen your relationships with others advancing health care sustainability. 

Your feedback on prioritizing measuring climate impact also led to the restructuring of the 2025 awards process – a robust, multi-year approach that will provide more transparency in scoring and simplify the application. 

Over the last year, we've been relentlessly building a robust framework to drive the success of our organization’s first three-year strategic plan. We’ve put effort into equipping you to enhance and expand your sustainability and climate initiatives while keeping your community at the forefront, and ensuring that our efforts emphasize the strength of our partnership.

You’ve told us your priorities include tackling health care emissions and addressing plastics in the supply chain, exploring renewable energy, engaging health professionals, building resilience, and for some, advocating for climate-smart policies. This year's focus is to sharpen how you can access the knowledge and momentum of the network through new peer-centered learning groups, workgroups, webinars, and timely on-demand content, all guided by an advisory group of your peers. Stay tuned to learn about exciting opportunities we have planned for you in 2025. 

As we all head into another busy year, I invite you to embody the African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” 

Thank you for being part of the Practice Greenhealth network.

Onward together,

Shanda Demorest, DNP, RN
Senior Director, Network Experience & Solutions
Practice Greenhealth & Health Care Without Harm