Innovating a greener future for healthcare

The Canadian healthcare industry creates more greenhouse gas emissions than the airline industry, says Dr. Sean Christie – a statistic supported by this article from the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Christie sits down with hosts Lorie Campbell and Verna MacDonald on this episode of Coaching Physicians: A Prescription for Leadership to discuss environmental health and the role we can all play to create a more sustainable healthcare system.

Christie began noticing the environmental impact of healthcare in the late 2010s, when his then teenage daughters took part in Greta Thunberg’s “Fridays for Future” protests. 

This heightened awareness led to conversations with colleagues and a growing realization of the amount of garbage the healthcare system generates – from packaging, to single use items, to greenhouse gas emissions.

“If you took healthcare globally and cobbled together the emissions from healthcare, it would be the fifth largest country in terms of greenhouse gas emissions,” says Christie, a neurosurgeon and department head, who also serves as a professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

There is variability in how much waste each country’s healthcare system generates, but a bigger environmental footprint does not translate into better care. 

“There is no correlation between this higher emission or higher utilization and better health,” says Christie, a founding partner for CASCADES and co-founder of the Centre for Planetary Health & Sustainable Care.

Innovating for global health

Climate change, at its core, is a societal issue but its impact on health is huge.

The events we’re seeing around the world – rising climates, species at risk, coastlines at risk – all impact our health and how we deliver healthcare, says Christie. 

“It’s critical that we move on this now.”

New products and innovative ways of thinking are key to turning the tide, he says. This includes creating products that are either biodegradable or reusable – something, itself, that offers an opportunity for economic growth. 

It also includes fostering an environment that embraces change and building relationships.

“We’re looking for a system solution and it takes many people to make those changes,” says Christie. “This isn’t a time to lead as one person, it’s time to lead as a group.”

Environmental sustainability in healthcare is starting to be embedded in medical education and healthcare leadership development, including through Dalhousie University, the Royal College and Canadian Medical Association. 

Groups like CASCADES, the Centre for Planetary Health & Sustainable Care, the Canadian Association for Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) and CAPE Nova Scotia are making huge strides in raising awareness and moving the needle on change.

Action for change

The Nova Scotia Health central zone group, encompassing the Halifax, Eastern Shore and West Hants areas, is growing and getting good support for their work. Christie has heard from people across all Nova Scotia Health zones and communities and is excited to scale some of the success they’ve seen in central zone across the province.

Anyone can be a leader and contributor to change, Christie says, and he encourages people to step up when and where they can.

“Embrace the passion that you feel, because it’s less about us right now, and more about setting the stage for the future of our children and grandchildren.”

Learn more about Christie’s work on the Coaching Physicians podcast.

Photo of Dr. Sean Christie.