During COP26, 50 countries pledged to reduce the environmental footprint of health systems, joining an initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO). 1 In extremis, Ministers Steven Guilbeault and Jean-Yves Duclos, respectively Environment and Health, added Canada to this list.
Surprisingly, this was the first time that health was on the agenda of a UN climate conference. However, the facts have been clear for years: climate change threatens the advances in public health of recent decades and endangers the ability of health systems around the world to provide quality care.
Caring while polluting: a paradox to be resolved
More and more professionals, managers and employees of the health and social services network are worried about the impact of their establishments, care and services on the climate crisis. They are quite right!
The health system is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and a monster generator of waste. In Canada, it is estimated to be responsible for about 5% of our annual emissions.
It is paradoxical to work in a health system that contributes to the burden of death and climate-related illnesses: heat waves, forest fires, food insecurity, displacement of populations, mental health issues and many more.
An eco-responsible shift necessary to improve health
Unfortunately, very little data exists in Quebec on the ecological footprint of the health and social services system. There is currently no departmental plan to redress the situation. It is time for that to change.
Like renewed leadership at the federal level, Quebec must follow suit.
Our government has all the resources and skills to develop a ministerial action plan aimed at carbon neutrality in the network, through an eco-responsible shift that improves the quality and efficiency of care, working conditions and environmental health.
We have everything to gain from making this shift sooner rather than later. Already, positive echoes are reaching us from all over the world and we can draw inspiration from convincing examples. For example, the National Health Service (NHS), the UK’s leading public health network, has cut its emissions by 14,300 tonnes of CO by example.2, saved nearly 30 million Canadian dollars since 2019 and succeeded in putting “green” pressure on its procurement services. The NHS understands that the climate emergency is a health emergency. And that is the pride of its employees.
In Quebec, the time has come to give us the gift of a strategy to aim for carbon neutrality in the health and social services network by 2040. A petition to which everyone can sign is also underway on the site of the National Assembly of Quebec.
It’s up to us to play for a network that will be our pride.
1. Visit the World Health Organization website
* Co-signers: DD Olena Zotova, president of the interdisciplinary group La Planète s’vite en santé; Nathalie Robitaille, Managing Director of Synergie Santé Environnement; DD Judy Morris, president of the Quebec Association of Emergency Physicians (AMUQ); Dr Eric Notebeart, president of the sustainable health committee of Médecins francophones du Canada; DD Caroline Laberge, President of the Quebec College of Family Physicians (CQMF)
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