Proposed Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies Related to Climate Change: Guidance for OEM Professionals.

Climate change is an urgent challenge amplified by socioeconomic factors that demands thoughtful public health responses from OEM professionals. This guidance statement from the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine focuses on the different strategies that these health professionals can implement to protect workers from health impacts associated with climate change hazards, foster workplace resilience in the face of rapidly changing environments, and take the necessary steps to mitigate the effects of global climate change.

Improving Patient Outcomes in the Dual Crises of Climate Change and COVID-19: Proceedings of the Third Annual Clinical Climate Change Meeting, January 8, 2021.

The tremendous global toll of the COVID-19 pandemic does not fall equally on all populations. Indeed, this crisis has exerted more severe impacts on the most vulnerable communities, spotlighting the continued consequences of longstanding structural, social, and healthcare inequities. This disparity in COVID-19 parallels the unequal health consequences of climate change, whereby underlying inequities perpetuate adverse health outcomes disproportionately among vulnerable populations. As these two crises continue to unfold, there is an urgent need for healthcare practitioners to identify and implement solutions to mitigate adverse health outcomes, especially in the face of global crises. To support this need, the 2021 Clinical Climate Change Conference held a virtual meeting to discuss the implications of the convergence of the climate crisis and COVID-19, particularly for vulnerable patient populations and the clinicians who care for them. Presenters and panelists provided evidence-based solutions to help health professionals improve and adapt their practice to these evolving scenarios. Together, participants explored the community health system and national solutions to reduce the impacts of COVID-19 and the climate crisis, to promote community advocacy, and foster new partnerships between community and healthcare leaders to combat systemic racism and achieve a more just and equitable society.

Health Care Pollution And Public Health Damage In The United States: An Update.

An up-to-date assessment of environmental emissions in the US health care sector is essential to help policy makers hold the health care industry accountable to protect public health. We update national-level US health-sector emissions. We also estimate state-level emissions for the first time and examine associations with state-level energy systems and health care quality and access metrics. Economywide modeling showed that US health care greenhouse gas emissions rose 6 percent from 2010 to 2018, reaching 1,692 kg per capita in 2018-the highest rate among industrialized nations. In 2018 greenhouse gas and toxic air pollutant emissions resulted in the loss of 388,000 disability-adjusted life-years. There was considerable variation in state-level greenhouse gas emissions per capita, which were not highly correlated with health system quality. These results suggest that the health care sector's outsize environmental footprint can be reduced without compromising quality. To reduce harmful emissions, the health care sector should decrease unnecessary consumption of resources, decarbonize power generation, and invest in preventive care. This will likely require mandatory reporting, benchmarking, and regulated accountability of health care organizations.

Assessment of Environmental Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting by Large Health Care Organizations.

Importance: Sustainability practices by large corporations are increasingly important to reduce the environmental and social impacts of the business enterprise. The health care industry represents 18% of the US economy, employs more people than any other economic sector, and is responsible for 10% of US carbon emissions. The engagement of large health care delivery organizations in reporting sustainability efforts has not been previously assessed. Objective: To evaluate sustainability reporting by large US health care delivery organizations compared with reporting trends in all other economic sectors. Design, Setting, and Participants: Cohort study of 49 large health care organizations (HCOs) by inclusion on one of the following lists in 2015 or 2016: Fortune 500, S&P (Standard & Poor) 500, Forbes 100 Largest Charities, Becker's Hospital Review of largest HCOs, and 24/7 Wall St's largest state employers. Each HCO was analyzed for sustainability reporting by reviewing the main corporate website, Google search, and search of publicly available databases. The percentage of sustainability reporting by HCOs on each list was compared with the percentage of sustainability reporting by all corporations on each list as obtained from public reports and publicly available databases. Data analysis was conducted in January 2018. Main Outcomes and Measures: The percentages of large health care corporations and other corporations publicly reporting sustainability information. Results: Forty-nine large for-profit and nonprofit US HCOs were analyzed (10 appeared on >1 list but were analyzed only once) appearing on the Fortune 500 (8 [16%]), S&P 500 (3 [6%]), Forbes 100 Largest Charities (8 [16%]), largest state employers (14 [29%]), largest for-profit HCOs (11 [22%]), and largest nonprofit HCOs (17 [35%]) by facilities owned for sustainability reporting. Among them, 4 of 8 (50%) on the Fortune 500, 1 of 3 (33%) on the S&P 500, and 6 of all 49 health care corporations (12%) published a sustainability report compared with 389 of 500 (78%) on the Fortune 500 and 410 of 500 (82%) on the S&P 500 reporting by all economic sectors. Conclusions and Relevance: The health care delivery sector lags behind other US economic sectors in sustainability reporting. Publicly reporting sustainability activities would provide HCOs with an incentive to quantify and reduce their environmental impacts, lower costs, and protect human health.