Sustainable healthcare: how Asia Pacific is leading the way

In 2008, the World Health Assembly formally recognised the health threats of climate change.In the years that followed, the centre of gravity of sustainable healthcare hovered over the North Atlantic, driven first by health professionals and then by governments, predominantly in Europe, North America, and Australia.The implicit theory of change was that progress in high income health systems would drive action worldwide.Today, despite global headwinds, health systems across the Asia Pacific region are accelerating decarbonisation efforts most quickly.Healthcare's global emissions are substantial, equivalent to the world's fifth most polluting country, and will continue to rise without preventive action. 1 The Asia Pacific region is where the causes (55% of global healthcare emissions), healthcare needs (more than 50% of global population), and climate risks (nearly 90% of people affected by natural hazards) converge. 1 -3 Ageing populations and expansion of healthcare access could see the region's share of global health spend increase by 34% by 2050. 4 Any viable global response to the climate emergency must therefore succeed here and the region is well placed to act as a test bed for systems based approaches.Compounding pressures from climate damage, rising demand, and constrained budgets leave no time to waste; the operational, efficiency, and public health benefits of healthcare decarbonisation are now too important to ignore.Climate impacts are a growing threat multiplier: each disaster forces health systems to rebuild and replace infrastructure and supplies, treat injuries and disease, and absorb additional costs, while generating further emissions to replace lost assets.A profound irony of climate change was exposed in November 2025 when Philippines Department of Health officials were unable to attend the COP30 conference in person-diverted to manage the disaster response to Typhoon Tino and Super Typhoon Uwan-while major emitting countries turned their backs on the process.