Private healthcare group, Netcare, has been internationally recognised for its environmental sustainability programmes, winning four Climate Champion Awards – two gold and two silver awards – in the 2020 Health Care Climate Challenge organised by Global Green Healthy Hospitals (GGHH). Globally, this achievement has only been equalled by one other organisation, namely Dignity Health based in the US.
GGHH is an international network of some 1,017 members in 52 countries on six continents, representing more than 32,000 hospitals, healthcare facilities, health systems and health organisations. All of these institutions are dedicated to reducing their environmental footprint and promoting public and environmental health.
The 2020 Health Care Climate Challenge was launched at the Paris Climate Conference in 2015, and Netcare was one of five founding participants in Africa. The 2020 Challenge aims to mobilise healthcare institutions around the world to reduce their own carbon footprint, become more climate resilient, and exert leadership to help every society transition to a low carbon energy future. There are currently 163-member participants in the 2020 Challenge, representing the interests of more than 14,000 hospitals and health centres in 24 countries.
“The prestigious awards give international recognition to those health institutions which play a leading role in the drive toward a global low carbon health sector and a healthy climate through environmentally sustainable healthcare initiatives,” Netcare Group’s CEO, Dr Richard Friedland, says.
Netcare received two gold awards for Climate Resiliency and Climate Leadership, and two silver awards for Renewable Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction. GGHH, which is a project of Health Care Without Harm, says that the awards recognise Netcare as, “a global leader in the movement towards climate-smart healthcare”.
This is the third consecutive year that Netcare has won Climate Champion Awards, having received a gold award for Climate Leadership in 2015, and two gold awards in 2016, for Climate Resiliency and Climate Leadership.
Friedland says the 2017 GGHH awards affirm the group’s continued progress in attaining its sustainability goals and the increasing contribution Netcare is making towards reducing its environmental footprint, while working towards becoming a model for sustainability within the South African healthcare sector.
“The Netcare sustainability team has shown outstanding commitment to the advancement of sustainability practices not only within our group but also regularly engages with other South African institutions and organisations, including the National Department of Health, to share information about our sustainability initiatives,” Friedland notes.
GGHH says the 2020 Challenge participants are leading the transformation to climate-smart healthcare facilities around the world: “By using their innovation, ingenuity, investments and voice, they are reducing their climate footprint, developing low-carbon models of care, adapting to stand resilient to a changing climate and advocating for policies to protect the future health of the planet.”
“The Climate Champion Awards received by Netcare are in no small part attributable to the efforts of our group’s sustainability team while credit is also due to our staff members for their commitment to delivering healthy and sustainable services to our patients and making these accolades possible,” Friedland says.
[link url="http://www.netcare.co.za/Articles/ArticleID=668"]Netcare material[/link]