SUSTAINABILITY


Offering quality healthcare with a ‘carbon neutral’ focus


Albin Knauder, Daniel Kreuzer, and Bernhard Zahrl of Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God, one of the largest private non-profit healthcare providers in Austria, analyse how the twin aims of providing healthcare and pursuing a ‘carbon neutral’ policy can be reconciled. They explain that protecting the environment and sustainability are ‘fundamental concerns’ for the Order as a sizeable healthcare provider.


The healthcare sector is responsible for 4.4% of global net emissions (two gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent), and the sector’s climate footprint is equivalent to the annual emissions of 514 coal-fired power plants. If the healthcare sector were its own state, it would be the world’s fifth largest emitter.1


The sector is therefore in


an unexpectedly paradoxical situation: on the one hand, it is called upon to promote the health of us all – to heal and alleviate illnesses, and, where healing is no longer possible, to accompany people on their final journey. On the other, it is one of the biggest emitters of harmful greenhouse gases, and its activities thus cause lasting environmental damage. However, many different, efficient, and


sustainable ‘therapeutic measures’ can be taken. The environmental management of the Hospitaller Brothers of Saint John of God, one of the largest private non-profit healthcare providers in Austria, therefore extends to all areas of its hospitals and other care facilities.


How the Brothers of Saint John of God ‘protect the environment’ ‘Man is not above creation, but a part of it.’ In order to do justice to the issue of sustainability, the Brothers of Saint John of God have decided to focus on a drive to protect and safeguard the environment – in particular focusing on de-carbonisation – and in recent years have also succeeded in certifying all the company’s operational facilities to the EMAS III environmental management system.2 Harnessing this system, the charity’s management teams have available to them both the basis, and key data, for decisions that will reduce or eliminate environmental impacts in the future. Environmental aspects are identified and assessed by an Environmental officer with the support of local environmental teams. For each individual activity, direct and indirect emissions to air, as well as noise, water consumption, discharge of in-house wastewater, material efficiency,


24 Health Estate Journal August 2023


and indirect environmental impacts such as transport, purchasing, and construction, are assessed. To evaluate the environmental impacts, a system of utility value analysis is applied, which records the various factors behind environmental impact. Energy use has so far emerged as the most significant environmental aspect across the organisation, followed by waste generation and water consumption.


Motivation to act The fact that the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God is intensively involved in efforts to safeguard and protect the environment might, at first glance, seem surprising. However, protecting our environment and sustainability are fundamental concerns for us as a healthcare provider. As early as 2000, an internal document stated: ‘We must foster strategic attitudes which create responsible relationships with the environment in which we live and which


we share, and of which we are merely stewards.’3


Another milestone was the publication of the encyclical Laudato si’ by Pope Francis in 2015. Sentences in this document such as: ‘There is an urgent need to develop policies so that, in the next few years, the emission of carbon dioxide and other highly polluting gases can be drastically reduced, for example by substituting fossil fuels and developing sources of renewable energy’, and ‘Worldwide there is minimal access to clean and renewable energy’,4 are an obligation for a Catholic order to act ecologically, and to eliminate the emission of CO2


into the atmosphere


as rapidly as possible. From the Pope’s standpoint, we are all called upon not to leave environmental protection to chance, and to take responsibility for action. As a religious community active in 52 countries worldwide, the Brothers of Saint John of God have taken up this guiding principle.


The Father Provincial of the Austrian Province, Frater Saji Mullankuzhy, and Federal Minister, Leonore Gewessler.


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