Aug 20, 2026 · 8 min · 6 segments
Healthcare's carbon footprint is buried in supply chains that no single hospital can fix alone. In this Insight from…
Rebecca McEnroyHostThe health sector can't just decarbonize.
They have to do that with the lens of the healing mission in place.
When a hospital counts its carbon footprint, most of it is not coming from the lights or the boilers.
It's coming from the supply chain, the medicines, the devices, and the products the hospital buys.
In the United States, that supply chain accounts for roughly four-fifths of healthcare's carbon footprint.
It is the hardest part to change because no single hospital makes those products, and it is also where the largest reductions are waiting.
For a sector built on a healing mission, the pollution embedded in care is a problem it cannot outsource.
In this insight, from episode 104, Practicing Green Health, nurse Jessica Wolff, a woman's health nurse practitioner and leader in healthcare sustainability, walks us through how health systems begin the work.
From a first emissions inventory to reduction targets and decarbonization roadmaps, and why the most promising progress comes when health systems and their suppliers stop working alone and start decarbonizing together.
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