Editing IPCC:AR6/WGII/Chapter-7 (section)

==== 7.4.6.3 Achieving Net Zero GHG Emissions from Healthcare Systems and Services ====

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The healthcare system is a core component of UHC, supporting climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable healthcare facilities ( [[#Corvalan--2020|Corvalan et al., 2020]] ). Health systems are large carbon polluters and have the potential to look beyond traditional ‘green’ initiatives towards a more fundamental, longer-term redesign of current service models, with health practitioners participating actively in this process ( [[#Charlesworth--2018|Charlesworth and Jamieson, 2018]] ). In the largest and most comprehensive accounting of national healthcare service emissions, the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) quantified its health services’ emissions and identified that 62% came from the supply chain, 24% from the direct delivery of care, 10% from staff commute and patient and visitor travel, and 4% from private health and care services commissioned by the NHS ( [[#Tennison--2021|Tennison et al., 2021]] ).

The health sector has considerable opportunity to reduce its own carbon footprint and by doing so would contribute to mitigation efforts and help reduce health burdens associated with GHG emissions ( [[#Vidal--2014|Vidal et al., 2014]] ; [[#Duane--2019|Duane et al., 2019]] ; [[#Charlesworth--2019|Charlesworth and Jamieson, 2019]] ; [[#Charlesworth--2018|Charlesworth et al., 2018]] ; [[#Guetter--2018|Guetter et al., 2018]] ; [[#Bharara--2018|Bharara et al., 2018]] ; [[#Frumkin--2018|Frumkin, 2018]] ) ( ''high confidence'' ). The UK’s NHS has committed to becoming the world’s first net zero national healthcare system. Other examples of recent and ongoing initiatives include those undertaken by the Kaiser Permanente and the Gundersen Clinics in the USA, Health Care without Harm in the Asia Pacific region, and the Green Hospital Initiative in New Delhi ( [[#Frumkin--2018|Frumkin, 2018]] ; [[#Bharara--2018|Bharara et al., 2018]] ).

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