Prioritising health in climate negotiations has been a lesser reported outcome of COP28, which recently took place in Dubai.
The annual climate change conference, which brings together world leaders to agree on how to address climate change, this year saw more than 40 million health professionals from around the globe calling for the prioritisation of health in climate negotiations.
The sixth (2022) report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that if the global health system were a country, it would be the fourth-largest carbon emitter in the world, while according to Health Care Without Harm, the healthcare sector contributes 4.4% of global net emissions.
Within this context, the annual global Health Care Without Harm 2023 Climate Challenge Awards recently recognised South African healthcare provider Netcare as Climate Champion of the African region. Additionally the healthcare provider received a gold Climate Action Award for Climate Leadership and Climate Resilience and a silver award for Climate Mitigation.
André Nortje, Netcare’s environmental sustainability manager, said, “From the baseline established in 2013, we have reduced our energy intensity by 39%. We have seen first-hand how the spirit of continuous improvement and refinement over time creates vast opportunities for safeguarding the environment while potentially offsetting the effects of climate change.”
Among its environmental initiatives, 38 of Netcare’s 49 hospitals generate their own solar power and 32 other facilities, across Netcare Medicross primary care and Netcare Akeso, use installed solar power systems.
The group also achieved a 28% reduction in water consumption per bed between 2014 and 2023 and aims to further reduce the company’s impact on the natural potable water sources by implementing grey- and black-water recycling projects within selected facilities by 2030.
Netcare plans to reduce Scope 2 emissions to zero by using 100% of its electrical energy from renewable energy sources by 2030 and Scope 1 and 2 emissions by a combined 84%. The healthcare group aims to achieve zero waste to landfills and a further 20% reduction in water consumption from limited freshwater resources.
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