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Decarbonization of the healthcare sector is a complex and challenging undertaking. Traditionally, facility design, facility construction, maintenance, and operations have emphasized the delivery of patient-centric medical care over both occupant comfort and environmental sustainability. The reasons for this are obvious.

Indeed, care quality and the energy resilience on which it depends must and will remain leading priorities. To the list, however, we must now add priorities that accompany the growing challenges of climate change. These new priorities are by no means incompatible with the original ones. They can be pursued through integrated and harmonized approaches.

Hospital carbon emissions can be reduced — significantly. Simultaneously, strategies that support the preeminence of life safety, operational resilience, and the delivery high quality medical services can be maintained.

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Take the Decarbonization Pledge!

In the spirit of solidarity to the cause of a better environment for all the residents of New York State, we offer The Decarbonization Pledge. This informal, non-binding pledge has been included to provide users of this guide with an opportunity to express their good faith commitment to the important task of healthcare sector decarbonization.

Consider the pledge as a show of support, a statement of intent to join in one of the most consequential efforts our state has ever attempted. It is hoped that the pledge will be useful for both government and private sector organizations alike. It entails no commitments or obligations. Consider it as simply a show of support for whichever aspects of decarbonization are relevant to you.

If you appreciate the ideas the pledge contains and would like to join with the many organizations that inspired its creation, we encourage you to sign and share your pledge.

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You can sign the pledge one of two ways:

Welcome to The New York Healthcare Decarbonization Guide.This guide is the primary resource of the New York Healthcare Protocol (NYHP), an ongoing public/private collaboration by more than 80 organizations, all of whom have contributed time, energy and expertise toward the development of this guide. The guide will aid hospitals in New York State and beyond with their decarbonization efforts. It provides first-steps assistance and technical guidance to hospitals preparing to meet climate goals as set forth in New York State’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), also known as The Climate Act. That Act, which was passed into law in 2019, mandates that Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in New York State be reduced to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030, and 85% below 1990 levels by 2050 1. In the wake of The Climate Act, other local legislation has been enacted, including New York City’s Local Law 97. Federal legislation is expected to follow in the near future 2. In anticipation of these new laws, an increasing number of hospitals around New York State are getting serious about strategically reducing their carbon emissions.This guide was created to support facility directors and other hospital staff in those decarbonization efforts. It contains tools and resources that will help hospital personnel to evaluate the current state of their facilities, develop an overall decarbonization strategy, identify and prioritize individual decarbonization projects, and secure the funding needed to cost-effectively complete them.This guide will help hospitals of all types and of all sizes, those with abundant resources and those without, to navigate the decarbonization process while also realizing their resiliency goals. It will be especially helpful to hospitals that are just beginning their decarbonization journey, however even hospitals in the midst of a decarbonization initiative may find it useful and informative.DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent official policy or views of the Decarbonization with Resilience Steering Committee or any of its partner organizations or contributors. For more information on the laws and regulations governing your facility improvement projects, please refer to New York State and local government resources.1 State of New York Official Website, https://climate.ny.gov2 The White House Official Website, https://www.whitehouse.gov/climate/ Sign a Digital Pledge
Welcome to The New York Healthcare Decarbonization Guide.This guide is the primary resource of the New York Healthcare Protocol (NYHP), an ongoing public/private collaboration by more than 80 organizations, all of whom have contributed time, energy and expertise toward the development of this guide. The guide will aid hospitals in New York State and beyond with their decarbonization efforts. It provides first-steps assistance and technical guidance to hospitals preparing to meet climate goals as set forth in New York State’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), also known as The Climate Act. That Act, which was passed into law in 2019, mandates that Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in New York State be reduced to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030, and 85% below 1990 levels by 2050 1. In the wake of The Climate Act, other local legislation has been enacted, including New York City’s Local Law 97. Federal legislation is expected to follow in the near future 2. In anticipation of these new laws, an increasing number of hospitals around New York State are getting serious about strategically reducing their carbon emissions.This guide was created to support facility directors and other hospital staff in those decarbonization efforts. It contains tools and resources that will help hospital personnel to evaluate the current state of their facilities, develop an overall decarbonization strategy, identify and prioritize individual decarbonization projects, and secure the funding needed to cost-effectively complete them.This guide will help hospitals of all types and of all sizes, those with abundant resources and those without, to navigate the decarbonization process while also realizing their resiliency goals. It will be especially helpful to hospitals that are just beginning their decarbonization journey, however even hospitals in the midst of a decarbonization initiative may find it useful and informative.DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent official policy or views of the Decarbonization with Resilience Steering Committee or any of its partner organizations or contributors. For more information on the laws and regulations governing your facility improvement projects, please refer to New York State and local government resources.1 State of New York Official Website, https://climate.ny.gov2 The White House Official Website, https://www.whitehouse.gov/climate/ Download Pledge

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Introduction to the Planning Process

We developed an 8-step process for developing your decarbonization and resiliency initiative. It includes strategic and tactical tools and checklists, a wide variety of publicly available funding sources, case studies, and more. Each step contains quick reference links which will help you to easily and intuitively access the resources provided for each step as you need them.

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Future Releases

This guide is part of an ongoing collaboration between public and private healthcare industry stakeholders from across New York State. This roadmap illustrates updates to the guide and new content deliveries planned for the coming months and years as well as industry-related information that may be useful to your efforts. Because the guide will continue to evolve in size, scope, and detail, users are encouraged to check back frequently. New content sections, tools, case studies, and other useful information will be posted regularly.

 

Please provide your email address below to be notified when there are updates to the Guide.

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