The Valdivia public health network in the south of Chile is
working hard to reduce the carbon footprint and environmental impact of its
nine hospitals.
“The Valdivia Health Service was once a source of pollution
in the region. When we first joined the Global Green and Healthy Hospitals
network … we understood it as an opportunity to take responsibility for our
environmental impact, but we also realized the great potential we had to drive
change in the region.”
–Pamela Andrade Alvarado, Coordinator of the Environmental Management Unit, Valdivia Health Service
Background
The Valdivia Health Service (Servicio de Salud de Valdivia in Spanish) is a public health network in the Los Ríos region of the south of Chile. The service operates nine health facilities and tends to a population of over 400,000 people. In 2014, it committed to reducing its environmental impact by joining the Global Green and Healthy Hospitals network.
The Challenge
"The Valdivia Health Service has long been a national reference for cancer treatment, but ironically, we were contributing to the incidence of cancer by incinerating our waste. One of our first actions was to shut down our incinerator and adopt measures to sustainably manage our waste. That is when we recognized just how big an impact we could have by addressing the sustainability goals of the Global Green and Healthy Hospitals Agenda."
–Pamela Andrade Alvarado, Coordinator of the Environmental Management Unit, Valdivia Health Service
Climate and Health Solutions
As a first step in setting a green course, Valdivia hired environmental managers for each of its facilities, and created an Environmental Leadership Committee for the network. After the Ministry of Health in Chile published national guidelines for environmental management in the health sector in 2018, Valdivia developed its own Environmental Management Plan matching the guidelines.
Next it trained staff in all its facilities on the use of Health Care Without Harm’s carbon footprint tool and led a system-wide calculation exercise to determine its emission baseline across all three scopes of emission.
Figure 1: Staff training session on the use of carbon footprint tools.
The results of this exercise provided valuable information that allowed the service to identify key areas of intervention, and design projects to tackle them. One of the main findings was that, in seven out of the eight facilities that calculated their carbon footprint, scope 1 emissions (those produced on site) represented more than half of total emissions. The exercise showed these emissions were mainly caused by stationary combustion sources such as boilers, as well as cooling and anesthetic gases.
Figure 2: Calculating the carbon footprint for 8 of Vivaldia’s facilities revealed most of the greenhouse gas emissions were produced on site (scope 1 emissions, orange bars).
Some of the main actions that have been put in motion as a result of the exercise include carrying out energy audits in the facilities of the network, in order to identify the optimal energy efficiency interventions for each facility. Another intervention comprised of switching the fuel source of boilers to gas. The service has also been promoting cleaner transport with its own staff, including by organizing an annual “cyclothon”.
Some of the individual facilities have gone even one step further, by implementing actions in their facilities, such as the community greenhouses and onsite orchards built on the grounds of Hospital de Corral and Hospital de Los Lagos. These projects are helping to educate staff, patients and the broader community on sustainable agricultural practices and providing nutritious, low-carbon and chemical-free food for the facilities.
Lastly, the Valdivia Health Service is also working on reducing its own vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. As part of its efforts to implement the national Climate Adaptation Plan for the Health Sector, the service instructed all of its facilities to calculate their Hospital Safety Index, using tools developed by the Pan American Health Organization. The results of this exercise will be used to prepare adaptation plans for each of the facilities in the Valdivia system.
Lessons Learned
One of the key lessons from the efforts of the Valdivia Health Service is that political will and leadership at the local level are crucial in order to mainstream climate action into health policy, but also to maintain institutional commitment and action through difficult circumstances. The service has continued to report on its emissions despite the many challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic brought upon its facilities, and they even participated in a national training led by the Chilean Health Ministry in March of 2021 while simultaneously rolling out the national vaccination strategy.
In April 2021, still in the midst of a global pandemic, the service further reaffirmed its commitment to ambitious climate action by becoming the first health institution in Chile to join the UNFCCC Race to Zero campaign, pledging to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, and reporting annually on its progress.
An important lesson learned from this case study is that accurate information is key to maximize impact and make strategic decisions. By using HCWH’s tool to understand the composition and distribution of each facility’s carbon footprint, the Valdivia network was able to plan for differentiated interventions. These were customized to the needs of each of its hospitals, but generally targeting the system’s greatest emission sources.
More information
You can read more about the efforts by the Valdivia Health Service in Healthcare Without Harm’s report the Hospitals that Cure the Planet. Learn more about the Race to Zero for health care here.
This story is part of a series of case studies on climate change and health. Case studies are intended to highlight the connections between climate change and human health, and showcase some of the solutions that are being implemented by the health community. Case studies do not necessarily represent the views of WHO or any of its member states.