Health community efforts towards decarbonisation

This indicator contains three sub-components which complement indicator 3.5.1 by assessing the extent to which three key actors in the health community are working to measure, disclose, and manage health sector emissions. These sub-components act as proxy measures for "effort" from the key enablers of health system decarbonisation: from governments, this focuses on the presence of a credible national baseline assessment; from the scientific community, it examines the proportion of pharmaceuticals and medical devices for which decision-ready carbon data is available; and from industry, the indicator assesses the presence of credible corporate commitments and transparent reporting. Across all sub-components, effort is classified as: "Established" when all quality criteria are met, "Progressing" when only some criteria are met or relevant work has been announced but not yet published, and "Limited" when there is limited or no evidence of quality measurement or effort.

This indicator measures progress in the healthcare community’s ability to quantify emissions, rather than emissions reductions themselves. Quality measurement and reporting are needed for effective decarbonisation, but their existence does not guarantee that mitigation actions will be implemented or that emissions will fall over time. As such, this indicator reflects effort to develop the measurement capability required for decarbonisation, rather than the outcomes of those efforts. The indicator relies on publicly available information, meaning that undisclosed decarbonisation activity cannot be tracked. Transparency is a critical component of action: public disclosure and commitments enable accountability, benchmarking, and knowledge sharing. Even if published, there is no objective way to measure the substance of public commitments. It is possible for governments and corporations to produce long and detailed sustainability documents without corresponding action to reduce emissions. To counteract this, the criteria used in this indicator are deliberately focused on transparency, data quality, and the presence of time-bound targets. Over time, any absence of meaningful action will become visible in the publications this indicator monitors.