From bandages to buildings: Identifying the environmental hotspots of hospitals

The provision of healthcare leads to high environmental impacts and economic costs for our society. Within the healthcare sector, hospitals are a main contributor to both aspects. In order to determine which areas of a hospital contribute most to the environmental impact, a life cycle assessment of 33 acute care hospitals in Switzerland was conducted. The environmental impact of these hospitals was analysed at midpoint level for 16 environmental impact categories. The functional unit (FU) was defined as healthcare services provided by one full-time equivalent for one year. The analysis shows that building infrastructure and catering are the main contributors for various environmental impacts, followed by heating and electricity. Waste and wastewater, pharmaceuticals, and medical and housekeeping products are relevant for at least three categories, whereas textiles, and paper use and printing are only relevant for one to two categories. Direct water use and laundry, and large medical equipment are only responsible for a small share of the impact in all categories. The carbon footprint of an average hospital is 3.2 tonnes CO2eq per FU and the main impact stems from heating with 0.82 t CO2eq per FU. The large variation in the environmental impact of different hospitals reveals that there is a considerable yet untapped potential for sustainability improvements in the hospital sector.

Automated summary

The provision of healthcare has significant environmental impacts and economic costs for society, with hospitals being key contributors. A life cycle assessment of 33 acute care hospitals in Switzerland revealed that building infrastructure and catering are the main contributors to environmental impacts in hospitals.