Green Health Challenges | FAQ

What are the Green Health Challenges?

The Green Health Challenges are a data-driven initiative, designed to help health care organizations commit to sustainability goals and track their own environmental projects and efforts.

Each Challenge contains a series of targets, indicators and focus areas that provide a pathway for individual members, and for the GGHH network as a whole, to measurably reduce their footprint.

The Green Health Challenges have a multi-tier structure allows members to pick and choose goals according to their specific capabilities and resources. This design aims to make the Challenges accessible to GGHH members of all sizes and levels of sustainability experience.

The Green Health Challenges focus on Waste and Energy. They also include GGHH’s,Health Care Climate Challenge.

What is the Waste Challenge?

The Waste Challenge aims for GGHH members to take measurable actions to reduce the amount and toxicity of waste produced, while implementing the most environmentally sound waste management and disposal options.

Each and every hospital, large and small, rural and urban, can have a positive impact on the public and environmental health of their community through sustainable health care waste management. By reducing and segregating health care waste, health care facilities can reduce their operational costs, enhance community relations and even generate revenue.

For more information on the Waste Challenge, visit: https://www.greenhospitals.net/about-waste-challenge/.

What is the Energy Challenge?

The Energy Challenge aims for GGHH members to take measurable actions to to transition to energy efficiency and renewables.The Energy Challenge offers members a framework that enables them to benchmark their energy consumption, while empowering them to conserve energy and reduce emissions. For more information on the Energy Challenge, visit: https://www.greenhospitals.net/about-energy-challenge/.

What is the Health Care Climate Challenge?

The Health Care Climate Challenge (Climate Challenge) is an initiative organized by the Global Green and Healthy Hospitals (GGHH) network to mobilize the health care sector around the world to:

Reduce its carbon footprint and/or foster low carbon health care.
Build resiliency to climate change
Help lead the effort for a healthy climate

Participants in the challenge will set targets to achieve these reductions and goals and track their progress over time.

Why should health institution take on the Green Health Challenges?

Waste Challenge: Each and every hospital, large and small, rural and urban, can have a positive impact on the public and environmental health of their community through sustainable health care waste management. By reducing and segregating health care waste, health care facilities can reduce their operational costs, enhance community relations and even generate revenue.

Energy Challenge: In the process of healing patients every day, the health care sector uses a significant amount of energy. By using less energy and obtaining it from cleaner sources, hospitals can reduce the amount of emissions they release and lower the risk of respiratory illness. In addition to offering health benefits, energy conservation benefits a hospital’s bottom line.

Climate Challenge: By moving toward low carbon health systems, health care can mitigate its own climate impact, save money and lead by example. By becoming more resilient, health care can help prepare for the growing impacts of climate change. And by providing societal leadership the health sector can help forge a vision of a future with healthy hospitals and healthy people living on a healthy planet. At this crucial juncture, the time to act to protect public health from climate change is now.

Who can participate in the Green Health Challenges?

Only hospitals, health centers, health systems and health organizations that are Global Green and Healthy Hospital’s members can take on the Waste and Energy Challenges.

If your institution is not a GGHH members yet, it can take the Climate Challenge and become a GGHH member by also submitting a letter of intent to join.

How can my institution become a GGHH member?

Hospitals, health systems, health care facilities or organizations can join GGHH by sending a letter of intent to participate in the network. A sample letter for each type of institution can be found here. The letter has to be signed by your organization’s director or by someone else with the authority to make a commitment to implement the GGHH Sustainability Goals.

Email your completed letter (preferably as a PDF) to: globalnetwork@hcwh.org and to sfakiel@hcwh.org. Address your letter to: Josh Karliner, International Director of Program and Strategy, Health Care Without Harm.

Shortly after submitting your letter of intent to join GGHH, you will receive a letter of confirmation and a welcome packet. The letter will provide you with the id and password of your institution to activate your account on GGHH Connect, the exclusive platform for GGHH members.

How do I take on the Green Health Challenges?

To enroll your institution to the Green Health Challenges, you need to complete a simple registration form. Only Global Green and Healthy Hospital’s members can take on the Waste and Energy Challenges.

GGHH members and non-members that fit GGHH’s membership categories can take on the Climate Challenge. To sign up, your institution’s director or an authorized leader from your health care institution needs to sign the official Health Care Climate Challenge pledge.

If you are already a GGHH member, the designated contact person can also endorse the pledge. Non-members will be granted membership in GGHH by also sending a letter of intent to join GGHH. Once the pledge is received, the organization will be notified within 7 business days of their approval and entry into the challenge. The organization will also receive a welcome pack with information and steps on how to get started.

Click here to take on the Health Care Climate Challenge

What type of data does GGHH ask my institution to submit for each challenge?

Each challenge has specific data forms that GGHH asks participants to complete and update annually. All data that participants submit is kept confidential and will only be used in aggregate with other participants and/or with approval from the participant.

Who are the Green Health Challenge participants?

Health institutions from all over the world have already taken on the challenges. To access the list of participants, click here.

Do I need to pay to participate in the Challenges?

No. The Green Health Challenges is a program for GGHH members. Challenge participants access a variety of tools and resources for free. Membership in GGHH is currently free of charge.

What do I need to do after taking on the Challenge?

Once you complete the registration form for any of the Challenges, GGHH will send you a welcome letter and packs with tools and resources. The first thing you should do is login to GGHH Connect, access the Hippocrates Data Center and complete your profile information, baseline information and one year assessment.

How do I submit data for the Challenges?

Through data submission on the Hippocrates Data Center, members can report, track and visualize their progress while contributing to an aggregated global view of the GGHH network’s efforts to reduce their environmental footprint.

What is Hippocrates Data Center?

Hippocrates is a cutting edge resource that puts the power of data management, goal bench marking, and progress tracking into the hands of each member. Housed on GGHH Connect, Hippocrates allows members to track, store, and visualize their data on a secure web-based platform. Data Forms currently available for energy, waste, and climate.

What is GGHH Connect?

GGHH Connect is a powerful multilingual Internet platform built in collaboration with Cisco and Skoll Foundation. GGHH Connect provides a hub to catalyze and accelerate large-scale change in the health sector. Members from around the world, for the first time, are able to meet, teach, and learn from each other’s experiences, thereby accelerating achievement of our shared sustainability and environmental health goals in a borderless environment.

Are participants being awarded for their participation?

Yes. The Green Health Awards celebrate and recognize the accomplishments of GGHH Challenge participants from around the globe who are taking real action to reduce the environmental footprint of their health care facilities.

The Green Health Awards are based on the individual progress of each participating member. This allows for flexibility for members to set their desired baseline year, receive recognition for their previous accomplishments, and work at their own pace.

Since 2015, Health Care Climate Challenge participants are receiving awards once a year in 6 individual categories. To be eligible for awards, organizations must set their targets and track their progress through Hippocrates Data Center. For a list of winners from the past years, click here.

Can I cancel my institution’s participation in the Challenge if we don’t reach the goals?

You can, but if your institution has problem reaching certain goals or implementing concrete actions please contact us so we can give you support.

How will my data be used?

Your data will only be used for tracking sector progress in aggregate. Your data will not be shared outside of GGHH’s staff or used for any other commercial purpose.