International comparison of health care carbon footprints
Climate change confronts the health care sector with a dual challenge. Accumulating climate impacts are putting an increased burden on the service provision of already stressed health care systems in many regions of the world. At the same time, the Paris agreement requires rapid emission reductions...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2019-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab19e1 |
| _version_ | 1827870641048518656 |
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| author | Peter-Paul Pichler Ingram S Jaccard Ulli Weisz Helga Weisz |
| author_facet | Peter-Paul Pichler Ingram S Jaccard Ulli Weisz Helga Weisz |
| author_sort | Peter-Paul Pichler |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Climate change confronts the health care sector with a dual challenge. Accumulating climate impacts are putting an increased burden on the service provision of already stressed health care systems in many regions of the world. At the same time, the Paris agreement requires rapid emission reductions in all sectors of the global economy to stay well below the 2 °C target. This study shows that in OECD countries, China, and India, health care on average accounts for 5% of the national CO _2 footprint making the sector comparable in importance to the food sector. Some countries have seen reduced CO _2 emissions related to health care despite growing expenditures since 2000, mirroring their economy wide emission trends. The average per capita health carbon footprint across the country sample in 2014 was 0.6 tCO _2 , varying between 1.51 tCO _2 /cap in the US and 0.06 tCO _2 /cap in India. A statistical analysis shows that the carbon intensity of the domestic energy system, the energy intensity of the domestic economy, and health care expenditure together explain half of the variance in per capita health carbon footprints. Our results indicate that important leverage points exist inside and outside the health sector. We discuss our findings in the context of the existing literature on the potentials and challenges of reducing GHG emissions in the health and energy sector. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:00:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f2c6cb8f44d1494c98bbff8d384aaaba |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:00:08Z |
| publishDate | 2019-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-f2c6cb8f44d1494c98bbff8d384aaaba2023-08-09T14:42:46ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262019-01-0114606400410.1088/1748-9326/ab19e1International comparison of health care carbon footprintsPeter-Paul Pichler0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6708-5748Ingram S Jaccard1Ulli Weisz2Helga Weisz3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8208-5199Social Metabolism and Impacts, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research , Member of the Leibniz Association, PO Box 60 12 03, D-14412, Potsdam, GermanySocial Metabolism and Impacts, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research , Member of the Leibniz Association, PO Box 60 12 03, D-14412, Potsdam, GermanyInstitute of Social Ecology, University of Natural Resources and Life Science Vienna , Schottenfeldgasse 29, A-1070 Vienna, AustriaSocial Metabolism and Impacts, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research , Member of the Leibniz Association, PO Box 60 12 03, D-14412, Potsdam, Germany; Department of Cultural History & Theory and Department of Social Sciences, Humboldt University Berlin , Unter den Linden 6, D-10117, Berlin, GermanyClimate change confronts the health care sector with a dual challenge. Accumulating climate impacts are putting an increased burden on the service provision of already stressed health care systems in many regions of the world. At the same time, the Paris agreement requires rapid emission reductions in all sectors of the global economy to stay well below the 2 °C target. This study shows that in OECD countries, China, and India, health care on average accounts for 5% of the national CO _2 footprint making the sector comparable in importance to the food sector. Some countries have seen reduced CO _2 emissions related to health care despite growing expenditures since 2000, mirroring their economy wide emission trends. The average per capita health carbon footprint across the country sample in 2014 was 0.6 tCO _2 , varying between 1.51 tCO _2 /cap in the US and 0.06 tCO _2 /cap in India. A statistical analysis shows that the carbon intensity of the domestic energy system, the energy intensity of the domestic economy, and health care expenditure together explain half of the variance in per capita health carbon footprints. Our results indicate that important leverage points exist inside and outside the health sector. We discuss our findings in the context of the existing literature on the potentials and challenges of reducing GHG emissions in the health and energy sector.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab19e1carbon footprinthealth careCO2 emissionsclimate changedecarbonizationenergy efficiency |
| spellingShingle | Peter-Paul Pichler Ingram S Jaccard Ulli Weisz Helga Weisz International comparison of health care carbon footprints Environmental Research Letters carbon footprint health care CO2 emissions climate change decarbonization energy efficiency |
| title | International comparison of health care carbon footprints |
| title_full | International comparison of health care carbon footprints |
| title_fullStr | International comparison of health care carbon footprints |
| title_full_unstemmed | International comparison of health care carbon footprints |
| title_short | International comparison of health care carbon footprints |
| title_sort | international comparison of health care carbon footprints |
| topic | carbon footprint health care CO2 emissions climate change decarbonization energy efficiency |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab19e1 |
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