Bridging the knowledge gap between distance health and social care solutions and environmental impacts

This briefing by the Stockholm Environment Institute explores how digital health and social care tools, such as Virtual Health Rooms (VHRs), can reduce carbon emissions and align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Using a case study of Storuman municipality in Sweden, the report estimates that VHRs can save approximately 31 tons of CO2 annually by reducing patient travel. It also details a co-production workshop that identified synergies between distance health solutions and SDGs related to health, climate action, responsible consumption, and public-private partnerships, advocating for a systemic, evidence-based approach to policy implementation to maximize benefits and mitigate trade-offs.

• In the Storuman municipality of the Västerbotten Region, the implementation of Virtual Health Rooms (VHRs) is estimated to reduce annual CO2 emissions by approximately 31 tons, which equates to about 5kg per person per year.
• The use of VHRs in Storuman results in an annual reduction of 205,659 kilometers travelled, saving an average of 3,200 hours of travel time, or roughly half an hour per person.
• The estimated CO2 savings from VHRs in Storuman represent 0.5% of total car emissions, 1.5% of total electricity emissions, 1% of district and house heating emissions, 0.5% of total food emissions, and 0.1% of total household consumption-based emissions.
• A co-production workshop using the SDG Synergies tool found that while distance-spanning solutions most strongly impact SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), they also create significant synergies with SDG 17.17 (Public-Private Partnerships), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and SDG 13 (Climate Action).
• The report argues that a systemic approach to identifying synergies and conflicts between policy goals allows for the pursuit of 'win-win' options, the mitigation of undesirable side effects, and the identification of potential political allies or opponents.

APA

Carson, M., Ekane, N., Joshi, S., Penje, O., Wang, S., & Weitz, N. (2021). Bridging the knowledge gap between distance health and social care solutions and environmental impacts. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/bridging-the-knowledge-gap-between-distance-health-and-social-care-solutions-sei-and-nordic-council-brief.pdf

Chicago

Carson, Marcus, Nelson Ekane, Somya Joshi, Oskar Penje, Shinan Wang, and Nina Weitz. Bridging the knowledge gap between distance health and social care solutions and environmental impacts. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2021. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/bridging-the-knowledge-gap-between-distance-health-and-social-care-solutions-sei-and-nordic-council-brief.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Carson |first1=Marcus |last2=Ekane |first2=Nelson |last3=Joshi |first3=Somya |last4=Penje |first4=Oskar |last5=Wang |first5=Shinan |last6=Weitz |first6=Nina |title=Bridging the knowledge gap between distance health and social care solutions and environmental impacts |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=October 2021 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/bridging-the-knowledge-gap-between-distance-health-and-social-care-solutions-sei-and-nordic-council-brief.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{carson2021bridging, author = {Carson, Marcus and Ekane, Nelson and Joshi, Somya and Penje, Oskar and Wang, Shinan and Weitz, Nina}, title = {{Bridging the knowledge gap between distance health and social care solutions and environmental impacts}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2021}, month = oct, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/bridging-the-knowledge-gap-between-distance-health-and-social-care-solutions-sei-and-nordic-council-brief.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }