The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in partnership with the White House, announced a call to action April 22 to reduce emissions across the health care sector and mitigate climate change.
Hospitals and other industry stakeholders are invited to submit pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase their climate resilience. In June, the White House plans to host a convening to highlight progress in promoting climate actions.
The voluntary pledge asks institutions to commit to:
- reduce their organization’s emissions by 50 percent by 2030 and to net zero by 2050 and publicly report their progress;
- complete an inventory of scope 3 emissions, which are associated not with a specific institution but with activities within the supply chain;
- develop climate resilience plans for their facilities and communities. It also asks them to designate an executive lead for this work.
HHS plans to release more technical assistance and toolkits in the coming months to support health care organizations in making these changes. Interested signers can download the pledge form and find more information on the submission process on HHS’ Health Care Sector Pledge page. Pledges are due June 3.
Contact Senior Director of Policy Erin O’Malley at eomalley@essentialhospitals.org or 202.585.0127 with questions.
