California Health Care Climate Alliance will advocate for climate-smart policies
Amid deadly fires and record-breaking heat waves in California, four of the state’s largest health systems – Dignity Health, Kaiser Permanente, Providence St. Joseph Health, and Sutter Health – have formed the California Health Care Climate Alliance. The Alliance was formed in advance of next month’s Global Climate Action Summit which calls for deeper commitments and accelerated action to address climate change by all sectors of society.
Representing 107 California hospitals and serving more than 20 million patients in the state, the Alliance aims to drive stronger commitments from California’s healthcare sector to protect the public from the health impacts of climate change and to work with policymakers in Sacramento to support the state’s climate goals.
“With the recent record-breaking heat waves and deadly fires in Northern California, the formation of the alliance could not be more timely,” said Jessica Wolff, U.S. director of Climate and Health at Health Care Without Harm. “The work of the Alliance is critical to preventing the worst effects of climate change and to creating resilient hospitals and communities across the state.”
California Health Care Climate Alliance members will work together to bring health care’s expertise, experience, and trusted voice to the legislative and regulatory process for climate-smart policies related to energy, transportation, food, waste, infrastructure, and community resilience.
“Climate change causes extreme heat waves, wildfires and droughts that hurt people, make them sick–and worse,” said Dr. Elizabeth Baca, senior health advisor in the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research. “This alliance of large California health providers is taking action to help make our hospitals and health care systems more resilient and better prepared for the worst impacts of climate change. Health care contributes 13 percent of California’s economy so the work of these health providers will play a key role in helping this state meet its pollution reduction targets. The California Health Care Climate Alliance is a great example of the type of commitments to address climate change Gov. Brown is calling for at the Global Climate Action Summit.”
Leading by example, Alliance members have committed to deeply reducing their greenhouse gas emissions and to driving California’s transition to 100 percent clean energy. To date, the Alliance’s founding members have installed and/or procured 190 megawatts of renewable energy, enough to power 47,500 homes each year, and their combined commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will result in a projected reduction of more than 1.1 million metric tons of CO2e, equal to taking 235,546 cars off the road each year.
The California Health Care Climate Alliance recently held its first meeting with state agencies in Sacramento and outlined recommendations for both sector and policy action.
“We are excited to see the members already focusing on actionable steps to work together and with the state to build a climate-smart health care system and promote healthy, resilient communities,” Wolff said.
