Health Systems Task Force
At the former Prince of Wales’ invitation, leaders from across the healthcare system have come together to form a Health Systems Task Force as part of the Sustainable Markets Initiative. Together, the Task Force is taking joint, scalable action to accelerate the delivery of net zero healthcare – to improve individual, societal, and planetary health.
Convened by AstraZeneca CEO Sir Pascal Soriot, the SMI Health Systems Task Force launched at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26). This public-private partnership brings together CEOs and leaders from AstraZeneca, GSK, Merck KGaA, Novo Nordisk, Roche, Samsung Biologics, Sanofi, Karolinska Institutet, National Health Service England, the Sustainable Healthcare Coalition, UNICEF, the University of Pavia, and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Ahead of COP27, Task Force members have launched sector-first commitments, actions and recommendations to deliver near-term targets and support the transition to net zero, sustainable healthcare. These actions focus on three priority areas: Supply Chain and Patient Care Pathways Decarbonisation, and the use of Digital Innovation in Clinical Research.
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Health Systems Task Force Announces Joint Commitments
Sector-first commitments to accelerate net-zero health systems
Endorsement of commitments and action by health systems partners
Through the SMI Health Systems Task Force, seven global pharmaceutical CEOs have aligned on sector-first commitments to achieve near-term emissions reduction and accelerate the decarbonisation of health systems.
The Task Force actions, commitments and recommendations have been endorsed by key health systems stakeholders.
White Papers
White Paper 03 November 2022 Accelerating the delivery of net zero health systems
The SMI Health Systems Task Force is committed to collaborating across and beyond the healthcare sector to drive concrete action to reduce emissions and propose targeted recommendations.
White Paper 03 November 2022 Decarbonising healthcare supply chains
This whitepaper highlights the major sources of emissions across healthcare supply chains, which account for approx. 50% of global healthcare emissions, and how these can be addressed.
White Paper 03 November 2022 Decarbonising patient care pathways
This paper outlines tangible actions to reduce emissions across patient care pathways and identifies seven levers to drive change; the impact of acting on these levers is illustrated in a case study looking at type 2 diabetes.
White Paper 03 November 2022 The digital solution for sustainability in clinical research
This paper explores the role of digital health solutions in reducing healthcare emissions, with a specific focus on emissions created by clinical trials.
Introducing Patient Earth
The climate crisis is the biggest public health crisis of our time. Watch our #PatientEarth film here to learn more about the interconnection between the health of people and our planet, and why action at scale is critical.
Letter of Intent
An industry first, the SMI Health Systems Task Force was created to accelerate the delivery of shared ambitions and stretching targets towards achieving a net zero health system. By uniting behind a set of joint commitments, the Task Force is committed to taking scalable action towards delivering sector-firsts and driving decisive action for healthcare and industry.
Health systems are responding to the impacts of the climate crisis but are also responsible for 4-5% of total global net emissions. Recognising that the sector must play its part, members of the Health Systems Task Force are committed to a collaborative approach towards driving action in the following three priority areas, which have been identified as drivers of the greatest positive impact in the sector:
Supply Chain emissions drive more than 50% of overall health care emissions. Collective actions unveiled by the Task Force include aligning on a set of common supplier standards to incentivise decarbonisation efforts across the supply chain, jointly pursuing renewable power purchase agreements and exploring green transportation corridors.
Patient Care Pathways have a critical role to play in reducing emissions and improving access to high-quality care and health outcomes. Task Force members will build an end-to-end care pathway emissions calculation standard and tool that allows stakeholders to measure and track emissions across the care pathway, and will publish product-level LCA data to increase transparency on treatment emissions
Digital Health opportunities on clinical trials and increasing the use of digital innovation is key to achieving more sustainable health systems. The Task Force is committing to leverage digital health solutions to decarbonise clinical trials, including the creation of a common framework to measure the emissions from clinical trials.
Sir Pascal Soriot, Chief Executive Officer, AstraZenecaWith over four percent of greenhouse gases coming from the healthcare sector, it’s imperative that we take action and make healthcare more sustainable – for the health of people, society and the planet.
The SMI Health Systems Task Force has a key role to play, and I am honoured and excited to be working with other like-minded leaders to drive change. Together, we can harness the power of innovation and shape and advance policies that will accelerate the delivery of net zero healthcare.
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Task Force Members
Pascal Soriot
Dr. Fiona Adshead
Catherine Russell
Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen
Belén Garijo
Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus
André Hoffmann
Paul Hudson
Prof. Ole Petter Ottersen
Lord David Prior
John Rim
Prof. Francesco Svelto
Dame Emma Walmsley
Further information
For roundtable and Task Force enquiries please contact:
Email: info@sustainable-markets.org