During the conference held in Bergamo on November 16th on the climate emergency and its implications for health, the Handbook for greener Healthcare Services was presented.
It will be introduced at the Choosing Wisely International Roundtable 2025 to be held in Florence on October 21st and 22nd, 2025.
This practical tool aims to assist healthcare organizations and professionals who wish to engage in the decarbonization of healthcare services.
The Handbook includes a brief methodological introduction and 12 factsheets covering 12 areas of work, highlighting initiatives that, taking into account the local context, can be undertaken to mitigate the impact of healthcare services on climate change. Appropriateness of care through the implementation of Choosing Wisely recommendations is one of them.
This is the first edition of a work in progress that will benefit from the advice, ideas, and suggestions of all those who commit to implementing it.
The Handbook aims to demonstrate that reducing the carbon footprint of healthcare services is a challenging but possible undertaking.
However, we need to realize that the problem exists, that it affects everyone, including healthcare professionals, and that addressing it requires changing many common behaviors, collecting data, promoting meetings, training staff, and much more. Of course, financial investment is also necessary, but it’s primarily a cultural issue. Many interventions don’t require significant investment; they can even reduce costs while simultaneously improving the quality and safety of care.
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