(Sustainable procurement guide) One of the greatest challenges we face today is embedding sustainability and justice into the things we buy. For generations, our march toward an increasingly globalized economy has come at the expense of our health, social justice, and the environment. For just as long, those costs have remained hidden, the harm externalized.
The COVID-19 crisis exposed the fragility and vulnerability of our global supply chains. Yet it also has given us an opportunity to move toward localized supply chains that not only reduce environmental harm, but also provide business opportunities and jobs in the communities health care serves.
Health care today lives with this challenge and responsibility: to lead in climate-smart and equitable purchasing practices that advance a crucial and timely transition to a post-carbon economy. Together, our collective purchasing power can shape the marketplace, create pressure for sustainable products, and embrace our broader healing mission to heal from racism and environmental destruction. We have the chance to heal from an immoral economic logic that has made both the planet and people expendable.
This guide, and the work to date, speaks to the growing collective power of our partnerships around the world. Working together, this network of individuals and organizations has spent many years transforming health care’s supply chains. This guide represents both a culmination of that work as well as the next step forward. Thank you to all of our partners who worked with us on this project and to those who will continue to collaborate with us in achieving these lofty goals.
Gary Cohen
Founder and president
Practice Greenhealth
Practice Greenhealth is the health care sector’s go-to source for information, tools, data, resources, and expert technical support on sustainability initiatives that help hospitals and health systems meet their health, financial, and community goals.
Practice Greenhealth is the leading sustainable health care organization, delivering environmental solutions to more than 1,500 hospitals and health systems in the United States and Canada. Partnership opportunities include hospitals, health systems, community health organizations, NGOs, nonprofits, government, academic institutions, and the health care value chain.
