Award-winning LHD exposes national climate complacency

Northern Sydney Local Health District (NSLHD) has been recognised at the Climate and Health Summit, receiving both the Overall Pacific Region Health Care Climate Champions Award and the Gold Award for Climate Leadership.

The awards celebrate the top-performing health institutions that demonstrate exceptional progress across the three pillars of the Health Care Climate Challenge (HCCC) – mitigation, leadership, and resilience. Coordinated by the Climate and Health Alliance, it unites over 100 health organisations committed to climate action.

Over the past year, NSLHD has accelerated its journey towards net zero, achieving several major milestones. These include the publication of its Net Zero Roadmap, which was honoured with the 2024 NSW Health Award for Environmental Sustainability.

“This award is a reflection of what has been a truly remarkable year of progress and collaboration,” said Paul Klarenaar, Director Population and Planetary Health at NSLHD .

The district has also introduced a NSW Health-first carbon dashboard to track emissions, calculated its carbon footprint for FY23/24, reduced energy and nitrous oxide use, implemented new recycling streams, and expanded its fleet of electric vehicles.

Additional initiatives include a carpooling trial soon to launch at Royal North Shore and Hornsby Ku-ring-gai hospitals, as well as a district-wide staff survey designed to co-create future planetary health engagement programs.

Michelle Isles, CEO of the Climate and Health Alliance, said “Australia’s climate future was starkly laid out in the [recent] National Climate Risk Assessment. Days later, the government has announced a target that fails to reflect the scale of risk we are facing and the profound impact this will have on people’s health and wellbeing.”

An ambitious target is not a ‘nice to have’ – it is essential to drive the urgent change needed to protect health. As a signatory to the Paris Agreement, Australia has committed that each successive Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) will “reflect its highest possible ambition.” However, the means to begin to address this – the National Climate and Health Strategy – remains unfunded.

“We welcome the inclusion of health in The Climate Change Authorities advice – it’s a vital step forward,” Isles said. “But recognition alone is not enough. We urgently need concrete actions that address the growing health impacts of climate change and protect the wellbeing of all people living in Australia. Funding the National Health and Climate Strategy and stopping fossil fuel projects that harm health is critical.”

NSLHD is recognised as an example of best practice. It is on track to deliver the actions outlined in its Planetary Health Framework 2024–2027, having completed more than a quarter of the framework’s commitments within its first 18 months. Over the past financial year, the district completed a climate risk assessment, fulfilling its obligations for the first year of mandatory climate-related financial disclosures.

“If Australia wants to be taken seriously as a partner to the Pacific, especially in the lead-up to a potential co-hosting of COP31, we must show leadership through meaningful emissions reductions. The health community will continue to ask for more ambition and we are here to support the effort,” emphasised Isles.

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