C35 -- Decarbonizing the Health Care Sector: The California Example PDF

With the growing awareness of the twin needs for climate mitigation and adaptation, California has similarly become a national, and even a global leader in grappling with these newer and more urgent challenges. The state’s responses have included regulations, research, incentives, and a culture of care. The California response has covered all sources of emissions, all sectors of the economy, and all types of buildings, including healthcare. Inevitably, it is the healthcare system that is called upon to minister to people impacted by wildfires, changing disease vectors, and heat-induced health conditions. The impacts of climate change forces healthcare institutions to invest in resilience as buildings cannot shut down when utilities shut off their power to prevent wildfires. Healthcare buildings must be able to care for those who need care. At the same time, healthcare buildings are intensely complicated and highly regulated. US hospitals use far more energy per area than hospitals in any other country in the world - with worse health outcomes (Schneider). Healthcare institutions in California have taken leadership roles in building their own capacity to serve, not only the patients they directly serve inside their walls, but also the people they serve in their surrounding communities and around the world. Through all these measures, California is rapidly creating the most decarbonized healthcare buildings in the US and sets a model for other states and other countries.