Becoming a climate-friendly hospital: Implications for nursing practice within the Australian healthcare context

Health organisations worldwide are transitioning from a traditional focus on predominantly clinical care to one that incorporates a more holistic approach to the health of humans and their environment, this change is largely in recognition of the huge amount of waste sent to landfill, energy intensive requirements and voracious water use by hospitals. Such environmental concerns have seen traditional hospitals identified as some of the largest contributors to global climate change. This type of behaviour has been identified as being unsustainable for both human and environmental health. Seven key elements have been introduced as a foundational framework for hospitals worldwide to address their negative environmental impacts by incorporating mitigation measures to reduce their carbon footprints. When one or more of these key elements are implemented healthcare organisations may be given labels such as green, climate-friendly or environmentally sustainable. Implementing environmental stewardship practices within hospitals can be a challenge. Within both health care and healthcare organisations it is the health professionals that are the driving force for mitigation measures.