Renewable-powered hospital campaign gains momentum

A new campaign from Healthy Futures, a climate change network for health professionals, is pushing for all-electric hospitals to be rolled out in Australia, and it is gaining support from across the industry.
 
The aim for the Healthy Hospitals campaign is to have every hospital in each state and territory be fully electric or powered by renewable resources.
 
It has also set itself the more challenging task of retrofitting all existing health infrastructure.
 
Healthy Futures says this ‘ambitious and historical work’ will deliver big emissions reductions and get the healthcare system climate ready.
 
Dr Catherine Pendrey, Chair of RACGP Specific Interests Climate and Environmental Medicine, told newsGP that the positive initiative is already gaining momentum.
 
‘We know that we need to decarbonise all of society to safeguard health from the public health emergency that is climate change and transitioning healthcare to sustainable energy is an essential part of that,’ she said.
 
The initiative comes as Canberra gets set to open its first all-electric hospital building in August.
 
Healthy Futures is now hoping to secure support from the Federal Government to rapidly transition public facilities to create an all-electric healthcare system.
 
It is not the first time doctors and the medical community have turned the heat up on the Government over inaction on the issue.
 
Earlier this year, hundreds of doctors and GPs signed a public petition to the Government for action on climate change by banning all new coal, oil and gas projects.
 
Dr Pendrey says the move is relevant for GPs both inside and outside of hospitals.
 
‘We really need to transition the whole of the healthcare sector from being predominantly fossil fuel powered to being eligible powered and renewable powered, and that’s relevant to general practice as well,’ she said.
 
‘This campaign is a really innovative model that’s looking at having partnerships between healthcare services, state and federal government, and that’s the kind of model that could be used to help general practitioners to transition their own healthcare services.’
 
Currently, Australia’s healthcare sector uses 7% of Australia’s total domestic carbon footprint, with many medical experts saying the sector is unprepared for the climate crisis.
 
Healthy Hospitals has outlined its next steps, which, firstly, is to secure a commitment from the Federal Government to fund the difference in the cost of building all new hospitals and health infrastructure all electric.
 
Secondly, they are asking for support for a pilot program to retrofit one public hospital in every territory and state – with a feasibility study for each pilot committed to in the next budget.
 
Its final goal is to have a long-term commitment to the retrofitting program, with all existing hospitals and healthcare infrastructure to be fully electric by 2035.
 
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