HCWH Europe is proud to have partnered with the Belgian ministries of Environment and Health in the development of their newly published report on the greenhouse gas emissions of the country’s health sector, as well as a decarbonisation roadmap.
The report was published as a result of the National Environment and Health Action Plan - a collaboration between the country’s federal, regional and community levels in the field of environment and health. It consists of three documents:
- Greenhouse Gas Emissions of the Belgian Health Care Sector: an overview of greenhouse gas emissions from the health sector in 2022, broken down into categories (including transport, energy consumption, and supply chain).
- Belgian Roadmap for Health Care Decarbonisation: a roadmap outlining decarbonisation pathways and carbon reduction interventions.
- Implementation Framework: recommendations around governance, progress monitoring and possible areas for action.
All the findings can be accessed through the article, available in French and Dutch (all the linked resources are in English).
The reports were developed in the context of Operation Zero, a project designed by HCWH Europe to put the European healthcare sector on the path to net zero emissions, in line with European and international climate commitments. Through this project, with the support of the consultancy ARUP, HCWH Europe developed and piloted a methodology that any national or regional health authority can use to measure its healthcare emissions and establish a decarbonisation roadmap that achieves net zero by 2050.
The methodology - Designing a net zero roadmap for healthcare: Technical methodology and guidance - provides a framework to create a decarbonisation roadmap for healthcare systems. This includes how to calculate a carbon footprint, model emissions trajectories, derive carbon reduction actions, and suggestions for how to develop the appropriate governance structures to support the process.
Thanks to the methodology, Belgium identified that 11% of the sector’s emissions are direct emissions, 3% come from purchased energy, and 86% come from indirect emissions in the value chain. At the same time, they identified actions that have the potential to reduce healthcare emissions by up to 73%.
Learn more in the article (in French and Dutch).
If you wish to know more about Operation Zero, contact Andreas Ekvall, Senior Climate Officer, at aekvall@hcwh.org.