Hospitals and clinics contribute 7% of S’pore’s carbon emissions

The sector’s footprint is 20% less intensive than that of other advanced economies

- Shabana Begum Correspondent

Hospitals and clinics in Singapore emit 4.1 million tonnes of planet-warming greenhouse gases each year, which is nearly 7 per cent of the country’s emissions in 2022.

This is the key finding of a study by the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and the Ministry of Health (MOH), which sought to provide the most comprehensive assessment of the healthcare sector’s emissions to date.

The production and use of medicine and medical devices - such as anaesthetics and asthma inhalers — contributed to the bulk of the emissions, at 32 per cent, according to the study led by the NUS Centre for Sustainable Medicine (CoSM).

Other contributors, each accounting for between 5 per cent and 20 per cent, included the construction of hospitals, ambulance transport, procurement of equipment and services, IT operations, electricity use and the burning of waste.

The study also found that Singapore delivers healthcare with a carbon footprint that is 20 per cent less intensive than that of other advanced economies.

The NUS-MOH report was released on Sept 17 at a forum for Western Pacific health ministries working on sustainable healthcare, organised by the World Health Organisation and the university.

Speaking at the event in Parkroyal on Beach Road, Senior Minister of State for Health Tan Kiat How pointed out that Singapore’s healthcare carbon footprint for each person remains above the global average - on a par with Japan and South Korea.