Launch of NUS Medicine Centre for Sustainable Medicine to accelerate net zero transition in global healthcare
Published: 15 Nov 2023
The climate footprint from healthcare constitutes 5 per cent to 8 per cent of the global total, making it the fifth largest emitter on the planet. Climate change is undermining foundations of good health in Singapore and across the world. Singapore, however, is particularly vulnerable, heating up twice as fast as the rest of the world, a trend that is risking health outcomes.
The Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine) has established the Centre for Sustainable Medicine, to pioneer and lead the health profession’s response to climate change in Singapore, Asia, and across the world. As the first-of-its-kind institution in Asia and the largest in the world, the Centre is dedicated both to decarbonising healthcare and developing climate-resilient health systems to accelerate the net zero transition in healthcare. Net zero refers to the lowering of greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible, with any remaining emissions re-absorbed from the atmosphere.
The Centre is led by Professor Nick Watts, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Medicine at NUS Medicine, who has been appointed as the world’s first Professor of Sustainable Medicine. Prof Watts has served as the Chief Sustainability Officer of the National Health Service (NHS), where he was responsible for leveraging its 1.4 million employees and annual budget of £180 billion, to deliver the health service’s commitment to be net zero by 2045.
Professor Nick Watts (second from left), Director of the Centre for Sustainable Medicine at NUS Medicine, attended the recent COP28 (Conference of the Parties) in Dubai.
On 1 December 2023, the newly minted centre at NUS Medicine was launched and represented both NUS and Singapore at the recent COP28 (Conference of the Parties) in Dubai, the largest international climate and sustainability summit at which heads of state, senior government officials, researchers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and civil society leaders will collectively address the challenge of climate change.
At COP28, Prof Watts emphasized the importance for health systems to respond with greater urgency at the launch event and panel discussion on “Climate Risk is Health Risk”.
Following his address, Professor Watts introduced the series of initiatives launched by the National University of Singapore (NUS) that will collectively contribute to the growing body of research on the links between climate change and health.
“You need to be asking questions not about what the health impacts of climate change are out in 2050. You need to be talking about (them) today,” said Prof Watts.
The Centre will bring together leading experts and clinicians from around the world to establish a new field of medicine and transform clinical practice. To fulfil its mission of establishing Singapore as a world leader in sustainable medicine, the Centre aims to achieve the following:
● Transform medical education and prepare future healthcare leaders to be at the forefront of the response to climate change. This will include embedding sustainability into the foundations of undergraduate medical school and develop a first-in-the-world “Masters of Sustainable Medicine”;
● Pioneer clinically-relevant and solutions-focused research designed to support high-quality, low-carbon care; and
● Support health policymakers and hospital administrators across the world to accelerate the transition to net zero healthcare.
“Without urgent action, climate change will overwhelm health systems across the world, including Singapore. The Centre for Sustainable Medicine at NUS Medicine will tackle this challenge, helping doctors, nurses and hospitals prepare for the spread of infectious diseases and weather extremities. At the same time, it will conduct research and implement net zero healthcare across the country, directly improving the health of our patients and reducing stretched health budgets,” said Prof Watts.
To enable Singapore to become a world leader in sustainable medicine, the Centre for Sustainable Medicine has three early initiatives in place, such as a new Clinical Fellowship in Sustainable Medicine, the first comprehensive assessment of the carbon impact of healthcare in Singapore, and the first in-person meeting of the newly formed Lancet Commission on Sustainable Healthcare in March 2024.
“Climate change is closely linked to health outcomes, and an estimated 88 per cent of the disease burden caused by climate change affects our young and vulnerable children. Yet, ironically, our healthcare practices have a disproportionately large carbon footprint. Hence, health professionals care about this as we have a duty to protect the wellbeing of our patients,” said Dr Amanda Zain, Deputy Director of the Centre for Sustainable Medicine, and Assistant Dean (Sustainability) at NUS Medicine.
“The Centre will support evidence-based, collaborative and pragmatic climate action that optimizes health for today and the future,” added Dr Zain.
Read more in the media release here.
