News and Insights

New Climate for Health Systems: Innovation, Resilience, and Intelligent Investments

February 20, 2025

How Hospitals and Digital Health Can Save People—and the Planet

The global health industry is responsible for approximately 4.6 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. This substantial environmental footprint underscores the dual responsibility of health providers: delivering quality patient care and reducing ecological impact.

At ViVE 2025, industry leaders convened in Nashville to explore key digital health topics, including the health transformation session “A New Climate for Healthcare: Innovation, Resilience, and Intelligent Investments.”  Health provider systems are driving impactful changes that benefit both the planet and the people.

Telemedicine and Hospital-at-Home as a Sustainable Approach

Telemedicine significantly reduces patient transportation requirements, leading to notable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Research demonstrates significant carbon footprint reductions resulting from minimized transportation requirements. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of California health system’s telehealth services eliminated approximately 21,465.8 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. These data underscore telemedicine’s potential as a tool for advancing sustainability.

The Hospital-at-Home (HaH) model provides acute, hospital-level care in patients’ homes, reducing the environmental impact of traditional inpatient services. This approach lowers the carbon footprint by shifting care from hospitals to home settings while improving patient outcomes.

Research indicates that patients receiving hospital-level care experience fewer complications and report higher satisfaction than those in conventional hospital settings. Additionally, HaH alleviates the financial and logistical burden of travel for patients and caregivers, further contributing to sustainability.

Preparing for Climate Urgencies

If the health sector were a country, it would be one of the world’s largest contributors to environmental challenges. The ViVE panel of health systems executives emphasized the urgent need for global leaders to prepare for delivering care amid climate-related crises, including floods, extreme weather, and heat waves.

The World Health Organization has highlighted the potential health impacts of climate change, necessitating proactive adaptation strategies.  Health organizations should prioritize:

• Reducing direct power consumption through renewable energy and energy efficiency
• Assessing and reducing their carbon footprint
• Focusing on health equity to improve outcomes faster
• Exploring the role of AI in improving health efficiency and outcomes

Sustainable Innovations in Health Systems

Industry leaders are implementing solutions to mitigate the health sector’s environmental impact. A notable example is Kaiser Permanente, the first US health system to achieve carbon neutrality in 2020. The organization eliminated its 800,000-ton annual carbon footprint through several pathways, including:

• Purchasing utility-scale electricity from new renewable sources, including more than 360 megawatts of wind and solar generation
• Installing 44 megawatts of on-site solar arrays across 100 sites
• Improving energy efficiency in buildings
• Purchasing carefully selected carbon offsets to mitigate unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions

Kaiser Permanente is not alone in its commitment to sustainability. Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is also making significant progress. The VUMC Department of Radiology has launched a Climate Action and Sustainability Initiative, which includes:

1. Pilot grants to staff and faculty for climate-focused projects
2. Collaborating with Philips to decarbonize its radiology department by measuring and addressing energy consumption of diagnostic imaging devices, including MR, CT, ultrasound, and X-ray
3. Vanderbilt University has launched a Sustainable Labs program to reduce the environmental impact of laboratory activities, which typically consume about five times more energy per square foot than standard office spaces.

A Call to Action: Shaping a Sustainable Future

The health sector stands at a crossroads—where innovation, investment, and resilience can reshape its environmental impact. Organizations like Advocate Health, Kaiser Permanente, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center have set a precedent, but the urgency to act has never been greater. Hospitals, digital health innovators, and policymakers must work together to ensure that health access remains effective and environmentally responsible. By prioritizing sustainability today, industry can safeguard human and planetary health for future generations.

Pioneering the Future of Health and Sustainability

FINN Partners is committed to creating a future where health and sustainability are integrated, working together to drive positive change for individuals, communities, and the planet.

We believe that aligning innovative health solutions with sustainable practices can create a healthier, more equitable world for future generations. Our commitment to this vision guides every initiative we undertake. With this in mind, on May 5, 2025, as part of the HITLAB-organized NYC Health Innovation Week, together with 1BusinessWorld and The Galien Foundation, we will host the Global Health & Purpose Summit 2025.

Businesses, NGO leaders, policymakers, and innovators will discuss ideas and innovations at the intersection of human health and environmental sustainability.

With the theme “People and Planet United,” the conversation will center on how advocates for progress can collaborate to shape a healthier, sustainable future in which people and the planet thrive. Participants will make connections and explore avenues for fostering global health impact, planetary sustainability, and purpose-driven leadership.