Creating a Sustainable Future for the Dutch Healthcare Sector!

Our healthcare sector plays a vital role in shaping our society. However, it’s a bitter irony that the sector that is tasked with caring for our health is unwittingly contributing to environmental pollution. Yes, that’s right - our healthcare sector contributes 7% of our total national CO2 emissions. At the same time, the healthcare sector also consumes large amounts of resources and produces a great deal of waste.

In an effort to turn the tide, the healthcare parties signed the Green Deal Sustainable Care, and by doing so they have committed to the international climate goals of the Paris Agreement. This means that we are determined to reduce CO2 emissions by 49% by 2030 and that we must limit the negative impact on the environment.

But how can we achieve this goal?
This is where Radboud university medical center comes into play. As pioneers, we have started to analyse the ecological footprint of the different care packages, but this is no easy task. And that’s why we need your help to continue our work and expand the scope of our activities.

Our vision of Sustainable Care
We are working towards a healthcare sector that takes all aspects of sustainability into account, including patient outcomes, the ecological footprint, and the economic/social impact. Your support will help us to develop our knowledge and tools further so that we can analyse the environmental impact of care packages. This will assist us in making informed decisions that will ensure the quality of healthcare, and will keep costs manageable and reduce the environmental impact.

What will your donation mean?
Your donation will allow us to continue our work and expand the scope of our activities - from calculating the environmental impact of different treatment options to creating a public database for the healthcare sector. Each donation will help us to move one step closer to our vision of sustainable healthcare.

Make a difference today
This project is not only relevant to us as healthcare providers, but also to you as patients, families, policymakers and anyone who is concerned about the future of our planet. We all have a role to play in making healthcare sustainable.

Let us work together to create the healthcare of tomorrow - healthcare that not only takes care of our health, but also that of our planet.

Principal researchers
Dr Tim Stobernack
Dr Hugo Touw

Foto: Flip Franssen