The healthcare industry is responsible for 8.5% of greenhouse gas emissions nationwide, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, and groups including the National Institutes of Health emphasize that the effects of climate change can negatively impact human health. To combat this, healthcare organizations are increasingly adopting sustainability initiatives aimed at reducing their carbon footprint.
Experts say IT departments can play a significant role in reducing a health system’s environmental impact, especially through energy efficiency and waste reduction strategies. However, it’s also important to be able to measure the effectiveness of those plans. That’s where environmental, social and governance data is a valuable resource.
IT leaders can use ESG data to drive changes that benefit the entire organization while also making their local communities cleaner and healthier places to live.
“It costs money to decarbonize and become more energy-efficient and less greenhouse gas-intensive,” acknowledges Ian Hughes, the director of environmental sustainability at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. “But it’s an investment in our future.”
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Hughes and his team consistently track electricity and natural gas usage, water consumption, and electronic waste, and Rush has composting and recycling initiatives.
“We’re scrappy about finding low- and no-cost opportunities for energy efficiency, because the cheapest kilowatt-hour is the kilowatt-hour that you don’t use,” Hughes explains.
“It can be as simple as working with our IT department to ensure that computers go into sleep mode, making duplex printing the default and reminding people to turn off their lights. We also take advantage of incentive programs with local utility companies to make our HVAC systems more efficient,” he says.
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