Health care’s opportunity
Our mission is to transform health care worldwide so that it reduces its environmental footprint and becomes an anchor for sustainability and a leader in the global movement for environmental health and justice.
Imagine healthy people living in equitable and resilient communities on a thriving planet.
We identify and pilot opportunities for health care to implement economical, science-based solutions to environmental health problems.
We educate, build implementation tools, train health care professionals, and scale solutions across our national and global health care networks.
We aggregate the influence and purchasing power of health care to drive the marketplace toward sustainability and policies that will create worldwide change.
The unprecedented scale of human impact on social and ecological systems threatens our health to such an extreme that current systems are no longer tenable. The health care sector is uniquely positioned, both within the sector itself and in partnership with other areas of our economy, to lead the transformation of society where individual, community, and planetary health is the aim.
The health and well-being of all life depend on social and ecological systems that are intact and functioning. Human activity is threatening or degrading many of these life-sustaining systems, causing a period of declining health for all species. Industrial systems – land development, food, chemicals, and energy – must be re-imagined if we are to restore what has been degraded as well as build individual and community resilience to new and emerging health threats.
What is health care for? The health care sector is both a significant contributor to the global planetary health crisis and uniquely burdened by it. Efforts aimed at protecting and improving our health will not succeed without addressing the social, economic, and ecological catastrophes that largely underpin the health, safety, and happiness of individuals and communities worldwide.
Representing 18% of the U.S. economy and 10% of the global economy, health care has the power to transform people, communities, and markets.
The health care sector is optimally situated to catalyze a purpose-driven societal transformation: to improve health at individual, community, and global levels. The converse is also true: such a transformation is impossible without the direct engagement of the health care sector. The frame for leading this transformation can be found in three interconnected strategies.
The guide provides step-by-step guidance, tools, and resources for health care organizations to develop a sustainable purchasing strategy that prioritizes community and environmental health and safety...
Learn MorePractice Greenhealth collected and compiled extensive sustainability data from 327 hospitals to provide timely information to hospitals and health systems working to build environmental stewardship in...
Learn MorePractice Greenhealth is pleased to offer members a toolkit to help hospitals and health systems reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from anesthetic gases.
Learn MorePractice Greenhealth is the health care sector’s go-to source for information, tools, data, resources, and expert technical support on sustainability initiatives that help hospitals and health systems meet their health, financial, and community goals.