Building a sustainable supplychain in healthcare

More than 70% of emissions from the health care sector are primarily derived from the health care supply chain – the production, transport, use, and disposal of goods and services that the sector consumes, according to the Healthcare Climate Footprint Report by Healthcare without Harm and Arup.

During Operations and Assessment module in my Sustainability Leadership program at Imperial College, I came across the article 'A More Sustainable Supply Chain' by Verónica H. Villena and Dennis A. Gioia in the March-April 2020 issue of the Harvard Business Review. The article takes a multi-pronged approach on going beyond addressing the first tier of suppliers in an organization's supply chain.  It made for an interesting process to deliberate what this would look like in the healthcare context.

Resilience, transparency and stakeholder engagement are key to building a sustainable supply chain network (plus a few hundred other things! but that's for another post).  

Thanks for reading!

Here are a few resource guides for those looking dive in further:

Sustainable Procurement in Healthcare Guide by Practice Greenhealth, Healthcare Without Harm and Global Green and Healthy Hospitals.

The Healthcare Market Transformation Network by HCWH Europe where they support healthcare organizations in making responsible purchasing decisions and move towards value based procurement.

Strategic Procurement in European Healthcare - a selection of best practices and case studies in promoting and strengthening capacity for strategic procurement that is sustainable, inclusive, circular and competitive.

Carbon Disclosure Project's Supply chain Program - Becoming a CDP Supply Chain member helps you to engage your suppliers, determine risks and identify opportunities that are rooted in science based targets and adhere to the UN SDGs.

Responsible Business Alliance - The RBA is a nonprofit comprised of electronics, retail, auto and toy companies committed to supporting the rights and well-being of workers and communities worldwide affected by global supply chains.