By Manpreet Kaur Sandhu
Approximately 80% of greenhouse gas emissions associated with healthcare come from the supply chain. Distributors are uniquely positioned to work with both upstream and downstream partners and can offer streamlined solutions that benefit the whole supply chain.
Climate change mitigation in the healthcare sector has become a key priority of the federal government. More than 600 hospitals and health systems have taken the Health Care Sector Climate Pledge launched by the Biden administration. This pledge invites organizations to commit to lowering their greenhouse gas emissions and building more climate resilient infrastructure. These stakeholders have committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2030, and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Healthcare distributors have developed many processes and best practices to help providers achieve climate change and other environmental sustainability goals. These solutions include:
Greener Transportation
In our inextricably global supply chains, the emissions cost of product transportation can have a larger carbon footprint than the raw materials used to make a product. Distributors are moving to more electric vehicles and other environmentally preferred modes of transportation.
Data-Driven Warehouses
Distributors can reduce emissions by consolidating shipments from multiple suppliers and/or to multiple customers. By using data analytics, specializing in inventory management and operating from centralized distribution centers medical distributors can make more consolidated product shipments, reducing the final carbon footprint associated with products.
Reduce Packaging Waste
Another huge contributor to supply chain emissions is the “Russian doll” model of packaging in which each individual product is wrapped in a plastic, inside a larger cardboard box inside a larger cardboard case inside a case etc. In healthcare, this is an especially demanding challenge due to the importance of maintain product sterility. Distributor centers can right-size product packaging and remove the need for filler; they can also work towards more sustainable packaging alternatives; and work with their end users to promote recycling at the end of a product’s lifecycle.
Decarbonizing supply chains remains one of the most complex challenges facing our industry. But it is one of the most effective ways to reduce emissions and promote sustainability across the entire healthcare sector.
Manpreet Kaur Sandhu, Program Manager: Supply Chain Collaborative, Health Industry Distributors Association (HIDA).