The mission of the Green Ribbon Commission Health Care Working Group (HCWG) is to help leading healthcare facilities and organizations in greater Boston reduce their emissions, make themselves and their communities more resilient to climate disruptions, and to advocate for the significant health benefits of carbon mitigation to patients and communities.
The Health Care Working Group provides information, technical support, and opportunities for policy engagement to Boston’s world class health care facilities. Working together, we seek to help these institutions reduce their contributions to the city’s greenhouse gas emissions, help health care facilities partner with the communities they serve to address facility and community climate vulnerabilities, and leverage their trusted and influential voice to advance climate policy and environmental justice.
The working group also seeks to measure progress in the industry through reporting and advocates for climate action on behalf of the industry at the city and state level.
Chair
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Niyum Gandhi
CFO and Treasurer
Mass General Brigham
Current Initiatives
Reducing Health Care Climate Impacts
A report published in December 2024 by Health Care Without Harm on behalf of the Boston Green Ribbon Commission Healthcare Working Group finds that, even as the Boston area’s health care sector grappled with massive disruption in recent years, hospitals maintained their progress around reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The HCWG will build on this base and:
- Proactively engage Boston’s health care community to support the implementation of BERDO 2.0 with an emphasis on advancing health equity and community resilience.
- Support the development of strategies to further reduce Boston’s health care sector emissions, including pathways towards decarbonizing our supply chains and steam production.
Building Health Care Facility and Community Climate Resilience
- Connect with other GRC working groups to share institutional best practices on resilience measures and develop cross-institutional collaborations for community resilience.
Advancing Climate Policy
- Collaborate with the City of Boston on their Climate Action Plan and leverage health research and expertise to support decarbonization and grid modernization efforts.
- Educate state legislators and regulators with subject matter expertise on the health benefits of emissions reductions, and on policies, programs, and investment opportunities that support health care decarbonization.
Participating Organizations
Mass General Brigham, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Beth Israel Lahey Health, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston Medical Center, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Blue Cross Blue Shield Massachusetts