Health facilities should save energy, make buildings climate-friendly and use medicines and medical products more sustainably, said Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) on Thursday at the presentation of the strategy paper. 400 million euros are available for this by 2030.
The list of measures also includes reducing waste and using resources carefully. Transport routes and the general issue of mobility should also be taken into account by healthcare facilities. When it comes to meals in hospitals, plant-based diets and the procurement of organic, regional and seasonal food are increasingly being promoted. Patients should also choose components instead of menus to reduce food waste.
The healthcare sector is responsible for around seven percent of CO2 emissions in Austria. “Of course, this also contributes to the climate crisis,” emphasized Rauch. The healthcare system therefore also has a responsibility to take countermeasures, said the minister at the press conference at the Hospital of the Brothers of Mercy in Vienna. “On the one hand, our goal is to promote the health of everyone, to cure and alleviate illnesses,” said Peter Ausweger, general manager of the Brothers of Mercy Austria. “On the other hand, hospitals are major emitters of greenhouse gases and thus cause environmental and climate damage, which in turn can affect the health of countless people,” he said.
Anesthetic gas recycled
In the Hospital of the Brothers of Mercy, for example, anesthetic gas is recycled. The hospital has also managed to reduce natural gas consumption by 51 percent in recent years. Adapting the health system will cause additional costs, but will also help to keep costs low, said Rauch. “If we don’t do it, we will incur costs in the billions,” he warned. According to scientists, the subsequent costs of the climate crisis will probably be greatest in the health sector.
Increasingly hot days and tropical nights, as we are currently experiencing in Austria, as well as increasingly frequent extreme weather events “are affecting us all,” stressed Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens). Health suffers not just at specific points, but throughout the year, for example when pollen seasons shift, she said. This year too is likely to reach a record or close to a record in terms of temperatures, said climate researcher Helga Kromp-Kolb at the press conference. Warming is happening much faster “than we thought,” she stressed. Heat is one of the main health factors. Sick people are particularly affected, but also the very old and very young, explained Kromp-Kolb.
“Climate protection is health protection”
33 nursing homes and geriatric centers as well as five hospitals have already been built or renovated according to the “climate-active” standard, reported Gewessler. “We have been in the middle of implementation for two and a half years,” said Rauch, emphasizing that work in this area will not begin until the more than 280-page strategy paper has been completed. More than 400 healthcare facilities, from hospitals to doctor’s offices to pharmacies, have also taken part in the “climate-fit” consultations run by Gesundheit Österreich GmbH (GÖG). “Climate protection is health protection,” emphasized Ruperta Lichtenecker, head of the GÖG’s Climate and Health Competence Center.
