CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION
The path to making Finnish healthcare more sustainable
Under Prime Minister, Sanna Marin’s 2019 Government Programme, Finland will be carbon-neutral by 2035, a goal requiring both faster reduction of emissions in all sectors, and strengthening of national carbon sinks. In this article, Leena Setälä, Sustainability director of the Hospital District of Southwestern Finland, sets out her vision for a ‘roadmap’ to reduce carbon emissions in the healthcare sector.
It is the year 2030. Imagine a healthcare system that provides high-quality medical services in specialised hospitals, which are working in close cooperation with a network of primary care facilities located at a moderate distance from people’s homes. Universal digital services are widely available and accepted by all age groups, providing 24/7 guidance and easy access to preventive care, self-monitoring, and personal health data. Remote services have replaced much of the need for visiting doctors’ and nurses’ offices, saving patients travel time. Even expert clinicians located hundreds of kilometres away can be reached this way. Travel to healthcare facilities has fallen by over 20% compared with 2020, and some hospitals have reduced the amount of office and ward space they use. While there are fewer hospitals in
2030 than there were in 2020, they are modern, and built to be energy-efficient. All hospitals have their own fossil-free energy production – providing heating in the winter and cooling in the summer, covering most of their needs. During peak consumption, electricity, heating, and cooling supply relies on local power plants that offer 100% carbon-free energy for the area. Many hospitals claim to be carbon- neutral in terms of their own energy usage.
Semi-automated supply management Hospital supply management, meanwhile, is semi-automated and data-driven, guiding the purchasing and storage of materials and items, and in the process decreasing waste. Waste management systems support separation of used products – immediately after use – into different streams of high-quality reusable waste materials. In addition to paper, cardboard, glass, and metal, several different plastics are collected as raw material for new products, including some that return to be used in the hospitals. The amount of paper waste has also
decreased considerably. Transport robots take care of logistics and communicate with healthcare facility staff to guide and
The Lighthouse Hospital in Turku in Finland is built above a road and a railway line, to decrease distance to other buildings on the university hospital campus, and increase efficiency in the use of shared support services.
maintain high-quality waste management streams. Hospital wastewater is managed in such a way that no significant amounts of harmful pharmaceuticals enter natural water sources and soil. Most of the wastewater heat is recovered via efficient heat pumps at wastewater treatment plants.
Current conditions Since 2015, the national Climate Change Act has set a goal of reducing Finland’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050 from 1990 levels. The Act also lays down provisions for a climate policy planning system and on monitoring its achievements, both in climate change mitigation and adaptation. Under Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s
2019 Government Programme, Finland will be carbon-neutral by 2035, and the world’s first fossil-free welfare society.1 This requires both faster reductions in emissions across all sectors, and strengthening of national carbon sinks.
The Finnish parliament supports the goal of strengthening the EU’s climate policy to achieve climate neutrality in the EU, the binding target of Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and the target for greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2030.
Prime Minister Marin’s proposal for the use of €2.9 bn in funding from the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility accounts for 50% of spending on the green transition, with the remaining funds divided between digitalisation, and research and development investment. This ‘Sustainable Growth Programme’ was accepted by the Finnish government in May 2021.2
COVID’s impact felt In the Finnish healthcare sector, however, the government’s plans for climate change mitigation action are missing. COVID-19 has placed all levels of Finnish society under stress, with much of the focus having been on controlling the
February 2023 Health Estate Journal 27
©Architect Group Reino Koivula and Schauman Architects
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