Climate Change Toolkit for Health Professionals

The document outlines the climate-related risks facing health care facilities (HCFs) and provides a framework for mitigation and adaptation. It highlights that 90% of health care life-cycle GHG emissions in Canada are generated upstream in the supply chain, with pharmaceuticals and hospitals being major contributors. The guide recommends using resiliency checklists, vulnerability assessments, and sustainable procurement to reduce environmental footprints. It also discusses specific interventions in energy efficiency, transportation (including telemedicine), and the reduction of potent inhalation anesthetic gases.

• Health care facilities in Canada are already experiencing disruptions from climate-related events, including flooding in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Ontario, as well as HCF closures and patient transfers due to wildfires in British Columbia in 2017 and 2018.
• The Canadian health care sector's life-cycle GHG emissions were estimated at 4.6% of total national emissions in 2015 (0.0330 GT CO2 eq), with emissions increasing at double the national average rate (10% compared to 5%) between 2009 and 2015.
• The vast majority of the health care sector's carbon footprint is indirect; 90% of life-cycle GHG emissions are generated upstream by non-health economic sectors, with energy (electricity at 22% and oil and gas at 17%) being the largest contributor.
• Hospitals in Canada have the highest energy use intensity of all commercial and institutional buildings (2.45 GJ per m2), and while they make up only 0.2% of such buildings, they account for 4.1% of the total energy used by the building sector.
• Inhalation anesthetic gases, particularly Desflurane and nitrous oxide, are potent GHGs that are often not included in Canadian reporting requirements, despite representing 5% of the carbon footprint of acute care organizations in the UK.
• Telemedicine offers a significant opportunity to reduce health sector emissions, with the potential for a 40- to 70-fold decrease in carbon emissions compared to single-occupancy vehicle travel for distances over a few kilometers.
• The agricultural sector contributes approximately 5% of total health care GHG emissions, largely through nitrous oxide from fertilizers and methane from ruminant animals, linked to the $4 billion spent annually on food by Canadian HCFs.
• Various tools exist to help HCFs assess and improve resilience, including the Health Care Facility Climate Change Resiliency Checklist developed by the CCGHC and Health Canada, and the PIEVC protocol for infrastructure vulnerability.

APA

Ribesse, J., & Varangu, L. (2019). Climate Change Toolkit for Health Professionals. Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Module-6-Final-Solo-April-2-2019.pdf#new_tab

Chicago

Ribesse, Jérôme, and Linda Varangu. Climate Change Toolkit for Health Professionals. Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, 2019. https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Module-6-Final-Solo-April-2-2019.pdf#new_tab.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ribesse |first1=Jérôme |last2=Varangu |first2=Linda |title=Climate Change Toolkit for Health Professionals |publisher=Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment |date=April 2019 |url=https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Module-6-Final-Solo-April-2-2019.pdf#new_tab |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ribesse2019climate, author = {Ribesse, Jérôme and Varangu, Linda}, title = {{Climate Change Toolkit for Health Professionals}}, institution = {Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment}, year = {2019}, month = apr, url = {https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Module-6-Final-Solo-April-2-2019.pdf#new_tab}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }