According to an April 9 press release, the Collective Healthcare Action to Reduce MedTech Emissions (CHARME) collaborative has launched. The group’s goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. medical device and equipment supply chain.
The press release says that “The MedTech (medical device, equipment, service, and distribution) supply chain accounts for 7% of U.S. health care greenhouse gas emissions. The Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council is leading this effort in partnership with Kaiser Permanente and Vizient.”
Further, “CHARME fills a critical gap in existing decarbonization initiatives and has the potential to improve emission reductions in activities such as manufacturing and transportation practices across the MedTech supply chain. A total of 13 organizations comprising of national and global health systems, medical device and equipment suppliers, distributors, group purchasing organizations, and other key industry stakeholders have expressed their intent to participate, including Advocate Health; Becton, Dickinson and Company; Cardinal Health; Cencora; Health Care Without Harm; Northwell Health; and Stryker, and more organizations are joining daily.”
The initiative will implement key findings from a whitepaper entitled, “Catalyzing Collective Action to Decarbonize Healthcare Roadmap for Health Systems and MedTech Suppliers,” which was published in 2023 by Kaiser Permanente, Health Care Without Harm, and Accenture, with input from over 30 organizations.
The whitepaper laid out a 24-month roadmap for health systems, MedTech companies, and other stakeholders to work collaboratively on four key decarbonization actions including:
- Renewable energy
- Product innovation
- Product utilization
- Transportation and logistics
PR Newswire has the full release.
