ENCORE | Getting to Net Zero: One Health System Fights Climate Change

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Climate change can have a devastating impact on our health. When people are injured or exposed to disease related to floods or fires, it’s up to health systems to pick up the pieces.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But health care itself is one of the world’s most carbon-intensive industries, responsible for 4.5 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. What can health systems do to address climate change?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the United Kingdom, the National Health Service (NHS) has set some ambitious goals to reduce its carbon footprint.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">On this encore episode of</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Dose</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">, Nick Watts, the NHS’s chief sustainability officer, talks about how the health service is meeting these goals, and whether its efforts could be replicated in countries like the United States. A low-carbon health care system, he says, is actually just a good health care system.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><em>This encore episode was originally released on 1/28/2022.</em></span></p>