REPORT SHEDS LIGHT ON HEALTH SECTOR AS MAJOR EMITTER

NEW DELHI: If the health sector were a country, it would be the fifth-largest emitter on the planet, said a new report that provides the first-ever estimate on the healthcare sector’s global climate footprint.

The total climate footprint of the health sector is equivalent to 4.4% of the global net emissions.

The top three emitters in the world - the US, China, and collectively the countries of the European Union - comprise more than half the world’s total health care climate footprint, at 56%.

India has the seventh largest absolute health sector climate footprint, which accounts for 1.5% of the national climate footprint, according to the Health Care’s Climate Footprint report by international NGO Health Care without Harm.

While India has the seventh largest absolute health sector climate footprint, it has the lowest health-related emissions per capita among all 43 nations analysed as part of the report.

“Indian healthcare system is quite vast, and just because the per capita emissions figure appears to be small doesn’t mean India can take it easy and not have a long-term strategy in place to cut down emissions. As a healthcare service provider, you anyway cannot be harming the environment,” said Dr Poornima Prabhakaran, deputy director, centre for environmental health, Public Health Foundation of India.

The report proposes a global roadmap for climate-smart healthcare.

ENERGY AND FOSSIL FUEL COMBUSTION IS THE BIGGEST CONTRIBUTOR FOR HEALTH CARE EMISSIONS, WITH OTHER CONTRIBUTORS BEING PRODUCT MANUFACTURE, USE AND DISPOSAL.