In April of 2018, UNDP and Health Care WIthout Harm held a three-day Orientation, Planning and Inception workshop in Istanbul, Turkey to launch the Sustainable Health in Procurement Project.

The workshop brought together more than 60 participants including representatives of the governments of the project countries, UN agencies, civil society and technical experts from across the globe. The workshop aimed to introduce SHiPP to the participants as well as use the opportunity to orient them on the relationship between environment and climate change on health outcomes and more specifically the role that sustainable procurement can play to positively impact health outcomes. The workshop also discussed the synergies with the multi-agency platform Sustainable Procurement in Health Sector (SPHS) and explored complementarity.

Health care has responded to the Global Climate Action Summit’s call to “take ambition to the next level” by committing to power 1,200 health facilities with 100 percent renewable electricity.

In making this commitment, health care is joining thousands of cities, companies, higher education, and other organizations making similar commitments as part of a worldwide effort to accelerate the transition from dependence on fossil fuels to an economy based on clean, renewable energy such as wind and solar.