PHSSR Saudi Arabia 2025

Environmental sustainability, as de fined by the United Nations, is "Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". (United Nations/WECD (1987). The WHO de fines a climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable health system as one that will “anticipate, respond to, cope with, recover from and adapt to climate-related shocks and stresses, while minimising negative impacts on the environment and leveraging opportunities to restore and improve it, so as to bring ongoing and sustained healthcare to their target population and protect the health and well-being of future generations” (World Health Organization, 2020). Globally, the health sector has a negative impact on the environment due to atmospheric carbon emissions, waste production and natural resource consumption. Given their causative relationship to climate change, carbon emissions are considered detrimental to the environment and to human health. In addition to devastating environmental impacts, climate change is linked to adverse health impacts, including heat-related injuries and deaths and increased mortality from extreme natural disasters and vector-borne diseases. Saudi Arabia faces many environmental sustainability and resilience challenges, including, but not limited to, continuing pressure on the environment and the depletion of natural resources due primarily to remarkable population and economic growth in recent decades. Although the complexity of these challenges demands signi ficant planning and intervention, building environmental sustainability and resilience through reduced carbon emissions, the curtailment of waste and e fficient resource management is fundamental. The national industrial development strategic goals and the national transformation agenda of Vision 2030 both target greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) reductions to improve health and life satisfaction. Notwithstanding these goals, achieving environmental sustainability and resilience demands increased coordination at the national level, regular monitoring, transparent and accountable targets for reducing the ecological footprint, a commitment to behavioural change and established guidelines for health service providers. Hence, environmental sustainability and resilience are multi-faceted and not limited to the health sector. Understanding the current status of environmental sustainability and resilience in Saudi Arabia is an essential first step. The extent of the changing climate and the levels of GHGE are commonly used measures of environmental sustainability and resilience and are integral to the environmental footprint of the health service and to measuring negative health impacts. Countries such as the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, China and Japan have recently calculated the climate footprint of their health services. (Pencheon D, 2018; Chung JW & Meltzer DO, 2009). To the best of our knowledge, the carbon footprint of the Saudi health system has not been measured and there is currently no centre for climate studies in the region. However, data on the country’s environmental footprint covers all sectors of the economy and shows that greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) per capita are just behind those of Australia, which is the second highest of the G20 countries. As a result, Saudi Arabia is working to decrease its emissions below 389 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) by 2030 and to below 263 MtCO2e by 2050 to be compatible with the global target of 1.5°C warming. Efforts to mitigate the environmental impact of Saudi Arabia’s health system are an important component of broader initiatives to reduce pollution, waste and emissions. Between 1990 and 2017, Saudi Arabia’s GHGEs increased by 197%, with the industrial sector contributing the most signi ficant increase, followed by the energy and transport sectors. Emissions per capita from the building sector are more than double the G20 average, although building sector emissions per capita decreased by 12% from 2014 to 2019. Similarly, transport sector emissions remain high, but have seen a signi ficant decrease per capita of 25% from 2013 to 2018. Saudi Arabia continues to implement environmental plans, such as renewable energy initiatives, and is intensifying its emissions targets to align with global thresholds, including decreasing fossil fuels as a share of the global primary energy mix to 67% by 2030 and 33% by 2050. 75 Sustainability and Resilience in the Saudi Arabian Health System The Partnership for Health System Sustainability and Resilience