An environmentally sustainable health care system

A letter from the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) to the Commissioner of The Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada, urging the inclusion of environmental sustainability in the assessment of the Canadian health care system.

• The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) argues that the health care system's environmental sustainability is critical due to its economic scale, where the system constitutes 10 percent of the Canadian economy and hospitals alone account for 1/30th of the GDP, leading to significant local and global environmental and health impacts.
• CAPE identifies three primary drivers for reducing the health care system's environmental footprint: the need for health care professionals to model sustainable behavior, the system's significant environmental impact, and the ethical duty to 'do no harm'.
• There are pragmatic economic benefits to reducing environmental impact, such as lowering energy consumption, decreasing waste generation and incineration, and reducing employee illness from toxic chemical exposure, which allows more funds to be directed toward patient care.

APA

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (2001). An environmentally sustainable health care system. https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/5.An-environmentally-sustainable-health-care-system-April-2001.pdf#new_tab

Chicago

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. An environmentally sustainable health care system. 2001. https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/5.An-environmentally-sustainable-health-care-system-April-2001.pdf#new_tab.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment |title=An environmentally sustainable health care system |date=17 April 2001 |url=https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/5.An-environmentally-sustainable-health-care-system-April-2001.pdf#new_tab |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{canadianassociationofphysiciansfortheenvironment2001environmentally, author = {{Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment}}, title = {{An environmentally sustainable health care system}}, publisher = {Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment}, year = {2001}, month = apr, url = {https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/5.An-environmentally-sustainable-health-care-system-April-2001.pdf#new_tab}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }