De milieueffecten van de Nederlandse zorgsector

Background

Recent studies suggest the Dutch healthcare sector is responsible for 4-8% of the national carbon footprint, but its environmental footprint along impact categories other than climate change are not well understood. In this study, we expand it from climate change to material extraction, blue water consumption, land use and waste generation.

Methods

The primary method we use for calculating environmental footprints is environmentally extended input-output analysis and the primary data sources are Exiobase and Statistics Netherlands. The top-down data is complemented with bottom-up information on emissions from pressurized metered dose inhalers, anaesthetic gases and impact from private travel by employees, patients and visitors.

Findings

The healthcare sector’s share of the national footprint is higher for material extraction (13%) and lower for waste generation (4%) than for the carbon footprint (7%). Pharmaceuticals and other chemical products are the biggest contributors to all footprints, but the impacts underlying this product category occur in different sectors and regions.

Interpretation

This work shows that a broader set of environmental impact categories beyond climate change provides a deeper understanding of the healthcare footprint and can be useful for prioritisation and developing sustainability strategies.

Conflict of interest and financial support: none declared.