Kaiser Permanente Pledges Bold 2025 Environmental Performance to Benefit People and Planet

OAKLAND, Calif., May 17, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Kaiser Permanente, the nation's largest integrated health system, today announced new and ambitious environmental goals for the year 2025 that include becoming carbon positive, buying only sustainably produced food and sending zero waste to landfills.

The new long-term goals build on the health care organization's longstanding environmental-stewardship commitment, and will further align its business practices with its purpose of helping people and communities thrive. 

Kaiser Permanente pledges that by 2025 it will:

• Become "carbon net positive" by buying enough clean energy and carbon offsets to remove more greenhouse gases from the atmosphere than it emits.
• Buy all of its food locally or from farms and producers that use sustainable practices, including using antibiotics responsibly.   
• Recycle, reuse or compost 100 percent of its non-hazardous waste.
• Reduce the amount of water it uses by 25 percent per square foot of buildings.
• Increase its purchase of products and materials that meet environmental standards to 50 percent.
• Meet international standards for environmental management at all its hospitals.
• Pursue new collaborations to reduce environmental risks to the foodsheds, watersheds and air basins supplying its communities.

All of these goals will be achieved through strategies that support both health and affordability.

"At Kaiser Permanente, we know what creates good health begins well beyond our own doors," said Raymond Baxter, PhD, senior vice president of community benefit, research and health policy. "Our aim with these new goals is to go beyond eliminating our own environmental impact to help restore, renew and revitalize our communities."

To achieve its 2025 goals, Kaiser Permanente must create new strategies in operations, investments, grant making, public policy, research, and community collaborations. But without a no-holds-barred approach to creating sustainable business practices for itself and championing the cause within health care and related industries, Kaiser Permanente cannot expect to stem the relentless pace of climate change and its significant threat to human health.

In the past decade, asthma rates among children have steadily increased, obesity has become an epidemic in much of the world, and the planet has seen the rise of superbugs and other antibiotic-resistant diseases such as MRSA. If business continues as usual, the next 10 years threaten to rapidly undermine advances in public health through increases in injuries and death from extreme heat and weather events, spread of infectious diseases and mosquito-borne illnesses, food and water shortages, and worsening allergy and asthma conditions, among other health risks. Low-income communities, the elderly and other vulnerable populations will be the most at risk.

"Climate change is an equity issue," Baxter said. "Those who will suffer most are those in communities that do not have resources to withstand climate-related stressors. As part of our commitment to health, we will continue to advance our contributions to a healthy environment."

Kaiser Permanente has always considered protecting the environment a natural extension of its mission to improve community health. It already has proven that it can improve and expand its health care services while reducing its environmental impact. It is one of the top users of solar power in the U.S. and has a long history of working with manufacturers to remove harmful chemicals from the products it purchases and to make healthier products more widely available to consumers.

Gary Cohen, president of Health Care Without Harm and a 2015 MacArthur fellow for his environmental health advocacy, credits Kaiser Permanente for its leadership in embracing climate action as part of its commitment to community health.

"Kaiser Permanente has led by example and has been an important partner in creating a social movement inside of health care on climate action and environmental health," Cohen said. "Its willingness to collaborate and build partnerships has enhanced the environmental performance of the entire sector."

Kaiser Permanente's 2025 goals express its ambitious vision for the future. To accomplish the goals, its leaders will develop yearly plans with annual targets and multiyear milestones with which to measure performance and progress.

Kathy Gerwig, the organization's environmental stewardship officer, is confident in the organization's ability to achieve its goals.

"We have adopted ambitious environmental stewardship goals in the past and worked together amid oftentimes complex and changing dynamics to meet or exceed them," Gerwig said.

For example, the organization pledged in 2012 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2020. With several major renewable energy projects scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, Kaiser Permanente expects to reach its goal by 2017 – three years ahead of schedule.

"We have learned that with an inspiring vision for the future, we can tap into the creativity and enthusiasm of our organization," Gerwig said. "Our 2025 goals define an even more striking future that inspires us and can raise the performance of the private sector and broader economy in the U.S. and globally."

About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente has a mission to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve more than 10.6 million members in eight states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to: kp.org/share

***Editor's Note: Media availability via conference call with Raymond Baxter and Kathy Gerwig, May 17, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. CT. Environmental editors/journalists, see below for details. 

Media Conference Call

Kaiser Permanente spokespeople will be available to answer questions from media via conference call on Tuesday, May 17 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Central Time.

To ensure our telecommunication systems are compatible with audience size, we are asking participants to RSVP prior to calling.

Please RSVP online at www.att-rsvp.com or call 877-471-4350. Outside the U.S., please dial 402-516-0110.

Please provide the Conference ID # 393920 when you RSVP. Callers will also be asked for the following information: name, company name, and phone number

*******

INFORMATION FOR PARTICIPANTS

When can I register?
-Upon receipt of the invitation and up to 11 a.m. CT, Tuesday, May 17

How do I register?
- Online: http://www.att-rsvp.com
- Phone:   877-471-4350 or 402-516-0110 for international callers

What information do I need to provide?
- Conference ID # 393920
- Your name, company name, phone number

To reach the media conference, what will I need?
- Dial-in number provided when you register with AT
- Conference ID # 393920

Contact: Susan Saito
[email protected]
510-459-6345

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130718/SF49717LOGO

SOURCE Kaiser Permanente

Related Links

http://www.kaiserpermanente.org