Unlocking preventive healthcare for people and planet.

Health is one of our most complex and deeply interconnected systems—shaping and shaped by climate change, food, agriculture, policy, and poverty. While healthcare delivery carries a significant environmental footprint, climate impacts from extreme heat to air pollution are rapidly worsening health outcomes worldwide. In this episode, Wayne and Sally explore how to shift from reactive "sickness" systems to preventive, climate-resilient healthcare.

Guests

Dr Sandro Demaio — Director, World Health Organization Asia Pacific Centre for Environment and Health

Dr Jonny Groome — Associate Medical Lead for Sustainability, Nuffield Health; Climate Director, Tottenham Creative Climate Collaborative; Consultant in Paediatric Anaesthesia, Royal London Hospital

What We Cover

• Why changing disease patterns and climate risks require an urgent transition in global health systems
• The double burden: How healthcare creates 5–7% of national carbon footprints while facing escalating climate impacts
• Decarbonizing scope 3 health supply chains and hospitals while keeping products and care affordable
• Lessons from Asia and the Pacific: Relocating vulnerable hospitals, greening cities, and driving regional political consensus
• Shifting from a reactive "sickness service" to preventive, plant-forward, community-centered wellcare
• The "7 Acts" for individual action and leveraging creative communities to build local climate resilience

Key Quotes

"The solutions that are required to tackle chronic disease are the same things that we need to do to address climate change and environmental degradation." — Dr Sandro Demaio

"Healthcare's emissions contribute 4 to 5%, but we touch about 90% of global supply chains... If we bring our entire supply chain along, we start to bleed into other carbon emission routes." — Dr Jonny Groome

References

• World Health Organization Asia Pacific Centre for Environment and Health: who.int
• Nuffield Health: nuffieldhealth.com
• EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health: https://www.thelancet.com/commissions-do/EAT-2025

This Episode's Dance

The Line Dance (with a Flashmob twist) — A line dance because transforming healthcare requires everyone moving in synchronized choreography regardless of what you wear, and a flashmob for the rapid, emergency response needed when systemic crises strike.