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Sustainable healthcare/hospitals (panel and report release)

Julia Drzymala

Moderator

date June 28, 2022 | 13:30 - 15:00
place
Multifunction Hall Room 8
organization
UN Global Compact with Philips
country
Poland
language
Polish with English translation
theme
Greener Urban Futures
Reference: 
NE 48

Summary

Healthcare systems account for 4.4% of global CO2 emissions. It is estimated that a hospital bed generates about 13 kg of waste per day. The idea of low-carbon hospitals not only has a positive impact on the environment but also saves a lot of money. To implement this idea, emphasis should be placed on: Closed Circuit Economy, energy efficiency of buildings, modern solutions and digitalization. The topic of health care and its functioning has become particularly important due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so we decided to focus on this topic at a time when there is a lively discussion about it and the necessary changes resulting from our experience in recent years. We would like to discuss these issues and their solutions during the premiere of our report at WUF11. Nowadays, it is of the utmost importance to find an alignment between all possible sectors and the EU goals to become carbon neutral by 2050. Therefore, the idea of Green Hospital brings up the environmental trends within the healthcare sector; Green Hospital being a broad term, may be tackled on multiple levels, starting from the infrastructure of the building through its use phase. Moreover, it finds connectivity between environmental and public health. The networking event is planned to be conducted in a panel form, featuring a release of a report. The scope of the report focuses on Green Hospitals on multiple grounds, presenting the current trends of the healthcare sector as well as showcasing recommendations from industries' professionals. The panel will open a discussion where key stakeholders and key opinion leaders dwell on the environmental trends within the healthcare sector. Where current figures are going to be presented aligning with goals towards carbon neutrality. The main idea of the event is to gather the interested parties together and discuss the issues the healthcare sector is facing nowadays, giving a set of possible solutions from our point of expertise. But also looking for other areas which may help to make hospitals more environmentally and patient-friendly.

Objectives

The key objectives of the event are to comprehensively address a topic that, despite its relevance, is not yet adequately discussed and addressed. With the Report, we want to attract a wider audience from around the world to this quite specific, but incredibly interesting and important topic - the green functioning of hospitals. We want to present our experiences, the problems we see and the proposed comprehensive solutions. In this way, we hope to deepen the common understanding of this issue and to begin an action for the transformation of hospitals. The networking event will be an encouragement for other parties to gain interest in the healthcare sectors’ need for change and raise awareness on the topic. There are different ways of engagement, depending on the audience: 1. The governmental representatives have legislative power and the ability to take a top-down approach. Such as the introduction of regulations accelerating the change towards more sustainable practices among healthcare institutions. 2. Business abilities to contribute with their expertise. As many components are defining a green hospital, starting from building infrastructure through medical devices 3. Healthcare professionals’ willingness to act and cooperate on given challenges.

Session speakers

Speaker
Role
Organization
Country
Mr. Michał Grzybowski
CEO
Philips
Mr. Kamil Wyszkowski
Representative, Executive Director, UN Global Compact Network Poland
UN Global Compact
Ms. Joanna Węgrzynowska
Manager ds. ESG, Departament Komunikacji Korporacyjnej i Zrównoważonego Rozwoju, ESG Manager
LuxMed
Professor Iwona Kowalska-Bobko
Head of department Policy and Management Department
Associate Professor, Faculty of Health Science. – Jagiellonian University Medical College
Mr Sławomir M Wysocki
Director
Provincial Specialist Complex of Lung Diseases and Tuberculosis Healthcare Centers in Wolica near Kalisz
Mr Mateusz Pawlak
Journalist
Rzeczpospolita
Mrs Izabela Domogała
Member of the Voivodeship Board
Marshal’s Office of the Silesian Voivodeship
Mrs Dagmara Brzeziecka
Strategy Department Representative
Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy
Mr Michał Kępowicz
Government and Public Affairs Leader
Philips
Dr Nathalie Roebbel
Head of Urban Health
WHO