Climate change is one of the greatest environmental challenges facing societies today and action must be taken in a wide range of sectors – healthcare being no exception. WHO estimates that around 5% to 15% of the carbon emissions in developed countries derives from healthcare services.

It is therefore of great importance that this sector is targeted if we are going to reach the UN sustainable goals which have been set. The Nordic countries are worldl eading in creating a sustainable healthcare. By adapting the operations, setting sustainability criteria when procuring devices and by controlling outputs from hospitals, the environmental impact is kept to a minimum.

In this white paper you will find five main focus areas connected to how the Nordic region work with sustainable healthcare.

The white paper is made as part of the Nordic Welfare Solutions project run by Nordic Innovation. The project is one of six flagship projects under the Nordic prime ministers' Nordic Solutions to Global Challenges initiative and is coordinated by the Nordic Council of Ministers.