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Explore the latest trends and actionable insights on the ESG in Healthcare market to inform business strategy and pinpoint opportunities and risks

Sustainability in Healthcare

Industry: Healthcare
Current: Other Industry Indicators

According to GlobalData’s Company Filings Analytics, in the Healthcare industry, the “ESG” theme has been mentioned 83,225 times in company filing documents in 2021
In the recent years, sustainability has become a part of the business strategies of various healthcare companies to ensure continued and improved healthcare for all people
In 2021, the mention of the “ESG” theme in company filings documents has grown nearly 40% over that in the previous year

Sustainability in Healthcare

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the fragility of the global healthcare system and made evident the need for a robust, sustainable, and easily accessible healthcare system more than ever. The term Sustainable Healthcare refers to a system that improves health, facilitates well-being, and maintains and restores health. At the same time, it helps minimize the negative impact on the environment and capture opportunities to improve this practice/method ensuring the health and well-being of current and future generations. According to GlobalData’s Company Filings Analytics, in the Healthcare industry, the “ESG” theme has found a significant increase in mentions in the company filing documents since 2019.

The Healthcare system has affected and pressurized the environment over the years. The production of healthcare equipment, generation of biologically hazardous waste, conventional waste disposal, wastewater disposal, and greenhouse gas emissions in the healthcare system pose substantial environmental and health risks. In order to tackle these issues, it is imperative to devise innovative strategies and go beyond the conventional healthcare practices to promote a sustainable healthcare system. Major breakthroughs that have occurred worldwide would likely ensure a sustainable healthcare system. According to GlobalData’s Sustainability in Healthcare report: Cigna, UnitedHealth, Anthem, Edwards Life Sciences, Fresenius, Humana, CVS Health are the leaders in ESG in the healthcare sector, and the following are some of their critical initiatives:

Low Cost/No-cost Energy Conservation Projects

UnitedHealth is one of the world’s largest healthcare payers and in its efforts to minimize its environmental impact, it has implemented low-cost/no-cost energy conservation projects. This measure ensures that more than 80% of the company’s sites in the US meet the LEED criteria.

CVS Health has upgraded its external lighting to LED in its stores in the US and has managed to save 33,500 MWh of electricity in 2021.

Renewable Energy

Companies have been striving to lower their environmental footprint by shifting to renewable sources of energy and reducing their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Fresenius Medical Care has prioritized the use of renewable energy, with 22% of its electricity consumption sourced from renewables. Fresenius has also purchased 140,000 MWh worth Green-e certified Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) in 2021 to aid renewable energy expansion projects.

Cybersecurity

In 2021, Fresenius rolled out a global IT transformation program at the organizational level. The three-year program aims at centralizing the IT and cybersecurity departments and strengthening the organization and preventing cyberattacks. Fresenius has conducted more than 60 training classes on data privacy and data protection to educate nearly 93,000 employees and contractors.

In-home Healthcare

In-home healthcare or home-based care has registered growth in the healthcare sector, with more and more providers intending to add home healthcare services to their existing portfolio of services.

CVS Health operates CVS Kidney Care, which focuses on reaching the patients wherever they are and promoting in-home dialysis.

Similarly, Fresenius Medical Care had set the goal of performing over 15% of treatments in the US in a home setting, The company achieved this goal in the third quarter of 2021.

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