THE PATH TO A CLIMATE-FRIENDLY HEALTHCARE FACILITY
In addition to the project for Gesundheit Österreich, Terra Institute advises several healthcare facilities within the framework of the new EU regulations regarding sustainability.
Consulting for climate-friendly healthcare facilities: Especially for the sustainability reports according to the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) as a result of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the sector will require specialized consulting.
Gesundheit Österreich GmbH is a national research and planning institute for the healthcare system and the competence and funding center for health promotion in Austria. Its sole shareholder is the Republic of Austria.
Gesundheit Österreich GmbH comprises three business units:
- Austrian Federal Institute for Health Care (ÖBIG)
- Fund Healthy Austria (FGÖ)
- Federal Institute for Quality in Health Care (BIQG)
KEY FACTS ABOUT GESUNDHEIT ÖSTERREICH GMBH (GÖG)
National Research and Planning Institute for Health Care and the Competence and Support Center for Health Promotion in Austria
Terra customer since 2022
Headquarter in Vienna, Austria
316 employees (2022)
Founded in 2006
SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT AND A FUTURE-PROOF HEALTHCARE SYSTEM ARE INSEPARABLY LINKED.
The health of our environment, our society, and our systems are directly linked and mutually dependent. Sustainable development supports and promotes precisely this health.
Under the principle of “planetary health,” there are more and more concrete starting points for highlighting the correlation between human health and the “health” of the environment. The future viability of the healthcare system, with its mission to “keep us healthy” or “heal us,” is essential for our sustainable development.
Furthermore, sustainable development and sustainable economic activity are not possible without health. To achieve this, we need healthcare facilities that meet sustainability criteria.
THE COMPANIES
THAT HAVE CHOSEN US
HOW CAN THE CHALLENGES IN THE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM BE ADDRESSED IN A SUSTAINABLE MANNER?
Our healthcare system faces urgent challenges, such as staff shortages, demographic trends, the increase in chronic diseases, and financial constraints in operations and investments. The EU’s new sustainability regulations (CSRD, taxonomy) may also mean additional effort in the short term, but in the long term they should pave the way for greater environmental, social, and economic sustainability.
Amidst all these changes, it is essential that healthcare facilities also contribute to climate protection, as scientific analyses show that the healthcare sector accounts for 4.7 percent of the carbon footprint at the European level and thus also contributes to the climate crisis (German Medical Association, 2022). At the Austrian level, this share is even higher, at around 7% (Brugger et al., 2023).
The new “Climate and Health Competence Center” of Gesundheit Österreich GmbH therefore launched the comprehensive consulting project “Consulting for Climate-Friendly Healthcare Facilities” in the summer of 2022. The project is aimed at hospitals, retirement and nursing homes, primary care units, doctors’ offices, and pharmacies throughout Austria. In total, more than 300 facilities will go through the three phases of the project.
WHERE DO WE FIND THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES IN HEALTHCARE?
- Collecting the necessary data and presenting it coherently is always a challenge.
- Currently, despite extremely high commitment, there is often still a lack of resources and responsibilities for the topic of sustainability.
- The switch to renewable energies often requires very high investment costs.
During the course of the project, the Terra Institute supports healthcare facilities in three phases.
In phase 1, the consultants use discussions, on-site inspections, and data analyses to compile a list of Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions, a climate action plan, and a summary report. It is no coincidence that the contents of these documents represent the greatest levers for a more sustainable healthcare sector and the reduction of its GHG emissions: building efficiency, energy generation, supply, and demand, mobility, resource and waste management, sustainable procurement, food systems, green spaces, awareness raising and communication, and embedding sustainability in the organization.
In phase 2, the institutions, with the support of the consultants, have approximately one year to implement the climate action plans.
In phase 3, the implementation of the climate action plans as well as inhibiting and conducive framework conditions will be evaluated and supplemented with further recommendations.
TERRA INSTITUTE CONSULTANT AND PROJECT MANAGER MARGIT HOLZHAMMER
MARGIT HOLZHAMMER Lawyer, long-time director of a hospital, CSR lecturer at various universities, and CSR and sustainability consultant at Terra Institute. Her focus industries are healthcare, banking, and tourism. Margit heads the Terra office in Innsbruck.
Margit Holzhammer on the project: “Even though sustainability is not yet strategically anchored in most healthcare facilities, we are seeing a great deal of commitment and many initiatives, both in the ecological and social dimensions of sustainability.”
CONTACT
Do you have questions or would you like our support in developing a sustainability and climate strategy for your healthcare facility? Would you like assistance with the process of CSRD-compliant reporting? Or would you like to anchor the topic more broadly in your healthcare facility?
Then arrange a free initial consultation with our experts.
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