The UNESCO Chair’s Contributes to the WHO Guidance on Climate Mitigation in Health Systems

Researchers Marta Santamaría and Dr Ilija Sazdovski, from the UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change at ESCI-UPF, contributed to the newly released WHO guidance “Measuring greenhouse gas emissions in health systems” (World Health Organization, 2025).

The document provides a practical and harmonised methodology for estimating GHG emissions across health systems, offering guidance on data sources, calculation approaches, reporting boundaries, and alignment with international standards such as the GHG Protocol and ISO frameworks. It serves as a foundational tool to support countries and health organisations in developing evidence-based mitigation strategies and tracking progress towards low-carbon, climate-resilient health systems.

This guidance aims to:

• Strengthen the capacity of health systems to measure and monitor emissions consistently

• Support national and subnational health authorities in identifying key emission sources and prioritising mitigation actions

• Facilitate international comparability and knowledge exchange across healthcare organisations

• Enhance transparency and accountability in climate action within the health sector

This publication is framed within the WHO ATACH initiative (Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health), which works to accelerate the decarbonisation and resilience of global health systems. The Chair’s involvement reflects its broader expertise in environmental assessment and mitigation strategies for the healthcare sector.