According to the WHO, climate change is the biggest health challenge of the century. In recent years, Sirona has deepened its commitment to sustainability with the aim of reducing the climate impact of healthcare, which currently accounts for around 4.4% of the Swedish domestic climate footprint. Much of this work has focused on harnessing the potential of digitalization to enable remote care, proactive interventions or AI-based solutions to identify patients at high risk of requiring extensive care. In 2024, we have taken a step back to address the big picture from a systems perspective to offer our private and public customers relevant support and guidance in this area; this work will continue over the next year.
Interview with Johan Hilm, Director at Sirona
What are Sirona's plans for sustainability work in 2025?
- We see that sustainability and climate impact are issues that are under-discussed in healthcare today. Consequently, the first step is to explain why these issues are important to address now rather than later. During the year, we therefore plan to organize several seminars and participate in various forums to raise these issues. Our aim is to raise awareness and drive change by engaging with customers and participating in the public debate together with partners.
What are the main challenges in the climate transition of healthcare?
- A significant challenge is that the majority of climate impacts occur in the supply chain. This requires us not only to change our own processes but also to deepen our collaboration with suppliers to reduce emissions across the value chain.
How can regions, hospitals and life science companies contribute to this transition?
- Action needs to be taken at several levels simultaneously. Individual clinics and professionals should work to continuously phase out and replace ineffective or questionable treatments with those with better evidence. An equally important measure is to improve procurement and purchasing so that higher demands on sustainability are made in procurement. By addressing issues in this way, our customers can play a crucial role in reducing the sector's carbon footprint. At Sirona, we are here to support them in this work.
What do you hope to achieve with this intensified work?
- As a first step, we want to create a platform for knowledge exchange and collaboration, where we can discuss challenges and solutions for sustainable healthcare with our customers and partners. By sharing experiences and insights, we can drive progress towards a more sustainable sector.
We look forward to continuing this important work with you in 2025. Together we can create a more sustainable future for healthcare.
