Health organisations representing more than 400,000 Australian healthcare workers gathered at Parliament House yesterday to launch a new report calling on the federal government to fund feasibility studies to electrify nine pilot hospitals across every state and territory.
The report, All-Electric Healthy Hospitals: a Cost-Benefit Analysis, found that electrifying 10 per cent of Australia’s public hospitals each year from 2027 to 2036 would save $59 million annually in energy bills and cut greenhouse gas emissions by an amount equivalent to removing nearly 150,000 petrol cars from the road.
The report was co-launched by independent MPs Dr Monique Ryan and Dr Sophie Scamps alongside Healthy Futures, Lucid Consulting, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, the Australian Federation of Medical Women, Doctors for the Environment Australia and the Climate and Health Alliance.
Representatives from the Australian Medical Association, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation and Lung Foundation Australia also attended.
Healthy Futures co-founder Dr Harry Jennens told the briefing that moving hospitals off fossil gas would deliver both financial and health benefits, pointing to a 2023 incident in Lithgow where a gas supply shutdown forced a hospital to postpone surgeries and delayed patient care.
He said gas infrastructure remains vulnerable to storms and accidents, and that a shift to electricity would strengthen the sector’s energy security.
Emergency physician Dr Simon Judkins, who works at Echuca Hospital, one of the nine hospitals proposed for the pilot, said healthcare workers were already on the frontline of climate change.
Dr Judkins, who treated patients in Mallacoota during the Black Summer bushfires, argued that hospitals needed to stop contributing to the pollution driving extreme weather while also preparing their infrastructure for it.
“Electrifying our hospitals would save nearly $60 million a year, but what about the cost if we don’t take this opportunity?” he said.
According to the report, the health sector is responsible for around 7 per cent of Australia’s domestic carbon footprint, with public hospitals contributing roughly a third of that figure.
About a third of the energy used across Australia’s public hospitals still comes from burning fossil gas.
The report also cited last year’s National Climate Risk Assessment, which found that climate change driven by fossil fuel use is likely to pose a severe risk to Australia’s health and social systems by 2050.
Dr Jennens said removing hospitals from exposure to volatile global gas prices would free up funds for other priorities.
“If hospitals aren’t beholden to the volatile global price shocks of expensive fossil gas, they’ll have more money to invest in what’s most important – patient care,” he said.
Catelyn Richards, federal assistant secretary of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, said the pilot would help hospitals lower energy costs and stay operational during extreme weather while supporting frontline staff to keep caring for patients.
Dr Sophie Scamps said hospitals should not be contributing to the harms of climate change.
“Electrifying our hospitals is a practical, achievable reform that will cut costs, improve energy security and ensure more resources can go where they belong: frontline healthcare,” she said.
The All-Electric Healthy Hospitals campaign is seeking $1.5 million in federal funding for feasibility studies covering a nine-hospital electrification pilot.
The proposed sites span metropolitan, regional and remote areas across every state and territory, chosen to reflect a range of climates and operating conditions.
The government has not yet responded to the report’s funding request.