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St. Paul's Hospital of Iloilo is a health facility that prioritizes environmental sustainability. The primary goal of this initiative is to alleviate financial and resource burdens that hospitals experience due to migration of populations, increasing demand, and lifestyle standards of patients. The hospital focused on improving operations without substantial infrastructure alterations to create a sustainable and cost-effective health care system that can cater to growing demands.

The hospital developed an energy reduction plan that centered around the installation of a photovoltaic system to reduce energy use and carbon emissions of the hospital.

A solar photovoltaic (PV) system is a renewable energy technology that converts sunlight into electrical energy. The system consists of several components, including solar panels, inverters, batteries (optional), and other electrical components.
Solar PV systems can be used for a variety of applications, such as lighting, low-power equipment, and small plug loads. This allowed the hospital to reduce energy consumption during the daytime. In addition, it reduces dependency on fossil fuel-based electricity.

The project aims to reduce the waste that ends up in a landfill, promoting the zero-waste-to-landfill site initiative and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The project was adopted as part of the Global Green and Healthy Hospital goals under waste in September 2019.

The transition from offsite and outsourced to onsite treatment of infectious waste has significantly reduced George Hospital’s carbon footprint. The installation of equipment that treats health care risk waste (hazardous waste) through mechanical – and microwave technology that allows for its safe disposal in a local landfill reduces emissions from incineration, which is the main form of treating health care risk waste in South Africa.

The Galician Health Service has introduced electric ambulances at the Ourense hospitals to address emissions from medical transport. The ambulances perform very well and help significantly reduce costs, as well as, CO2 emissions. They are best suited to non-urgent complementary services, such as the transfer of patients between hospitals.

By removing high-emissions anesthetics from operating theatres and implementing low-flow anesthesia machines, Raigmore Hospital significantly reduced emissions produced by their operating theatres. This initiative was implemented as a part of the Green Theatre Project, which consists of 11 actions to make operating theatres more sustainable. The project was so effective that it was integrated into the NHS Scotland climate emergency and sustainability strategy for 2022 through 2026 as the national green theatres program.

UC San Diego’s commitment to the Cool Food Pledge has led the system to develop tools and programs to procure and serve more plant-based meals while increasing the use of local and seasonal offerings. The goal of Cool Food is to reduce GHGs from food purchasing by 25% by 2030.

In an effort to seek data on the amount of nitrous oxide that was used by providers in 2021, the University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC) EPIC Optime analysts reviewed the hospital’s anesthesia providers’ records to determine the amount of gas administered versus the amount of gas the amount of gas purchased. (EPIC is the facility’s electronic health record, and Optime is the application providers in the perioperative department use for all of their documentation.)

Climate Learning Initiative - Case studies: Learning objective 1
Gathering support and resource allocation from leadership, and an expressed commitment to climate action

Baselining and estimating emissions and risks, strategies, and action plans.

Developing a carbon or climate management plan to improve facility- and community-based climate adaptation and resilience

High-impact interventions to reduce emissions and build resilience and adaptive capacity.