The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) marked Earth Day on Monday by launching new programs to help the health sector reduce its significant carbon footprint and additional tools to help the country prepare for the climate-related challenges brought on by the summer season, especially extreme heat.
HHS announced an expansion of its collaboration with England’s National Health Service (NHS) to document overlaps in national procurement standards for health sector suppliers, particularly with respect to carbon emissions disclosures and target setting. This effort will now include the Australian government, Health Services Executive Ireland and The Norwegian Hospital Procurement Trust. Other nations’ health systems, including the Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, will join discussions on this collaborative effort in the coming months.
HHS also is opening up a second phase of the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity Catalytic Program on the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to help healthcare providers and especially safety net organizations take advantage of the IRA’s tax credits to invest in clean energy and building efficiency. The agency is offering monthly webinar updates on new IRA announcements and recorded content and case examples that states, associations and other groups can use to support adoption of relevant IRA programs.
“The catastrophic and chronic risks to health posed by climate change are growing,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra in a statement. “We’re ramping up our efforts to make sure that the health sector is prepared for the threats that the summer will bring to communities, workers and families while also deepening its own sustainability through the billions of dollars in available tax credits, grants and other supports introduced by the IRA.”
HHS also released a guide for healthcare providers on understanding and documenting their Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions, such as indirect emissions associated with the organization’s value chain.
The new initiatives come close on the heels of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Innovation Center announcing a voluntary Decarbonization and Resilience Initiative to address threats posed by climate change to the nation's health and healthcare system. This proposed initiative would support participating organizations in monitoring, assessing and addressing hospital carbon emissions and their effects on health outcomes, costs and quality as part of the proposed Transforming Episode Accountability Model.
“Climate Change is rapidly changing the world we live in, widening health inequities and deepening disparities experienced by vulnerable communities across the country,” said Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Rachel Levine, M.D., in a statement. “We continue to prioritize work on climate health, accelerating decarbonization of the health care system, advancing environmental justice and introducing preparedness resources to strengthen local responses to climate-related challenges.”
More broadly, President Joe Biden also unveiled $7 billion in grant funding to expand access to rooftop solar power under the IRA and announced new steps to stand up his administration’s American Climate Corps, as CNN reported.
Extreme climate conditions bring new hazards to workplaces
Extreme heat alone now generates a productivity loss of more than 295 billion work hours per year worldwide, according to research from Dialogues économiques. And, climate-related health costs in the U.S. now total over $800 billion per year, Natural Resources Defense Council data show.
Almost half of the U.S. workforce—65 million people—are at increased risk for climate-related health problems, according to KFF data.
In the World Economic Forum's 2024 Global Risks Report, executives ranked extreme weather as the most severe risk to the global economy in the next decade.
But, less than 1 in 5 business leaders feel fully prepared to address the long-term, climate-driven health risks facing their workforce, according to an analysis of existing research released today by the National Commission on Climate and Workforce Health.
The commission's analysis brings to light the significant implications climate-related health risks can have on a business's people, operations and performance as well as the U.S. economy, as up to 84% of the value of S&P 500 companies is in human capital.
Because employers shoulder a significant portion of U.S. healthcare expenses, climate-related health impacts lead to escalating business costs, compounding over time.
The commission plans to gather data to further quantify the implications for healthcare costs, develop recommended actions for mitigating risks and identify innovative solutions for protecting employees.
The organization was created by the Health Action Alliance in partnership with Mercer and with strategic input from the CDC Foundation. Additional support for the initiative is being provided by Elevance Health and The Hartford.
"In our efforts to protect the future health of our planet, we can't overlook the significant health vulnerabilities facing our workforce today," said David Michaels, Ph.D., former assistant secretary of labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and commission member, in a statement. "Building resilience will take more than policy change. It will require the active leadership of the private sector."
The commission plans to raise awareness of extreme weather threats to employee health through educational programs and workshops, quantify the risk by creating an interactive financial projection tool to help employers understand their individual risk profile and forecast the magnitude of their climate-related health costs over time.
The organization also plans to develop recommended actions for mitigating climate-related health risks, foster peer-learning communities to share strategies and experiences in addressing climate-related health risks and promote solutions to climate-related health impacts, collaborating with startups and researchers to develop new tools and practices.
"Our health is directly linked to the health of our physical environment. As a healthcare company with an integrated whole-health approach, we acknowledge our responsibility to preserve and improve the health of our members, communities and our own workforce," Hakon Mattson, chief sustainability officer at Elevance Health and commission member, said in a statement. "We are proud to be one of the first organizations to join the Commission and are committed to working collectively to help organizations build more climate resilient workforces."