Net zero medicine's time has come

Net zero refers to a state in which the greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere are balanced by removal out of the atmosphere. 

Here is a guide to achieving it.

The term net zero is important because – for CO2 at least – this is the state at which global warming stops. The Paris Agreement underlines the need for net zero, requiring states to ‘achieve a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century’. 

Climate change has significant effects on health.

Here are some free articles from the NEJM that showcase the issues and the opportunities.

Here is a recent ESG (environment, social, governance) update.

But while hospitals might seem to be the unwitting victims of climate disasters, the U.S. health care system — and hospitals in particular — shoulder a good deal of the blame. The health care sector accounts for about 8.5% of all the greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., and about 4.5% of worldwide emissions. These emissions are generated mostly from running energy-draining facilities 24/7, and from the vast array of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, food, and other goods and services produced, purchased, and sometimes wasted, while providing care. 

So, where are the opportunities for net zero health entrepreneurs and stakeholders?

1. Sick care professional school education and training
2. Using technologies to create net zero sick care facilities
3. Net zero medicine investment vehicles
4. Incorporating net zero thinking into the social determinants of health
5. Patient education
6. Net zero sick care social entrepreneurship
7. Reducing unnnecessary waste and contamination in sick care facilities
8. Making net zero practice a part of your safety and quality mission
9. Building the business case for net zero practice
10. Decarbonizing your digital strategy
11. Leadership development
12. Transdisciplinary collaboration
13. Clean care entrepreneurship, where clean tech meets sick care tech
14. Policy and advocacy
15. Safe water
16. Designing hospitals that promote staff well being

Where do you start? Do an energy audit.

17. Startups also need an ESG strategy. So do non-profits.

The American Medical Association (AMA) adopted policy during the annual House of Delegates meeting declaring climate change a public health crisis that threatens the health and well-being of all people. The AMA took a stand on climate change with new policies because of the widely expected impacts on public health. Some of these effects have already been seen with increasing numbers of wildfires, the resulting poor air quality, heat related deaths and hospitalizations, extended draughts, and climate changes that foster the spread of mosquito and other insect vector diseases.

More than 100 health systems, payers, drug manufacturers, associations and other industry organizations have signed on to the Biden administration’s greenhouse gas and climate resilience pledge, according to a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announcement timed with the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27).

Practicing clean care is good medicine, a moral imperative and makes good business sense. Healthcare Hurricanes are getting worse.

Don't forget to wash your hands.

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs