Tools and resources

Latest sustainability data

• Benchmark Report

Each year, Practice Greenhealth collects and compiles comprehensive sustainability data from hospitals that report through the Environmental Excellence Awards. Practice Greenhealth is then able to provide the sector’s best performance benchmarking data to hospitals and health systems working to build environmental stewardship into their mission. Sustainability initiatives can add value, reduce…

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Awards metrics list 2021

• Awards

This resource provides a list of the different metrics scored on the award applications.

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What’s new on the 2021 award applications?

• Awards

This resource is an at-a-glance snapshot of improvements or new questions on the current year award applications. The changes reflected in this document are to help applicants quickly identify any changes to the application as compared to previous years.

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Sample environmental commitment statement

• Exemplary Document

Environmental commitment statement from the University of Vermont Medical Center. The University of Vermont Medical Center's mission and vision are built on a foundation of values that includes a longstanding commitment to being prudent stewards of limited natural resources. We will continuously look for new ways to build upon on our long tradition of environmental responsibility. 

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Sample green team charter

• Exemplary Document

Charter for the UChicago Medicine Green Team. The objective of the Green Team is to coordinate efforts at UChicago Medicine around green initiatives, focused on sustainability best practices that promote patient satisfaction, employee engagement, and value to UCM and the communities they serve.

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A guide for going carbon neutral

Kaiser Permanente recently became the first health system to achieve carbon neutral status in the country. As the largest integrated, nonprofit health system in the United States, this achievement demonstrates its longstanding commitment to sustainability. Certified by the CarbonNeutral Protocol, the organization has eliminated or offset its 800,000-ton annual carbon footprint, the equivalent of…

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Selling the sizzle: Naming and marketing your plant-forward recipe (Practice Greenhealth)

• Health Care Culinary Contest
• Marketing

[Plant-Forward Future] You are ready with delicious plant-forward dishes but will your customers buy them? The answer is yes – if they are marketed correctly. This easy five-step guide will help your team create appeal for menu items by focusing on key taste, sensory, nostalgia, and geographic descriptors to increase consumers’ desire for them. Step #1 Describe Start by listing the core…

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Customizable RFP for Assessing Climate-Related Infrastructure Risks

• Climate and Health

Preparing for and investing in climate resilience can safeguard lives and an organization's financial viability. This customizable request for proposal (RFP) will help health care systems undertake infrastructure risk assessments and mitigation analyses for facilities facing extreme weather events and other climate risks. This template can help you identify and guide potential partners to explore…

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"Health care's collective purchasing power can shape the marketplace"

• Sustainable procurement
• Gary Cohen
• Purchasing
• Climate and Health

(Sustainable procurement guide) One of the greatest challenges we face today is embedding sustainability and justice into the things we buy. For generations, our march toward an increasingly globalized economy has come at the expense of our health, social justice, and the environment. For just as long, those costs have remained hidden, the harm externalized.  The COVID-19 crisis exposed the…

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Where to find sustainable products

• Sustainable procurement

Sample third-party labels, certifications, and databases for health care goods and services (Sustainable procurement guide) Finding sustainable products in health care is achievable through a number of resources. The list below provides links to sustainable products identified by Practice Greenhealth, Health Care Without Harm, and labels and certifications specific to the health care sector.…

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