HUS year 2024: Environmental responsibility

The environmental program focused on carbon neutrality in HUS by 2030; prudent resource management and the circular economy at HUS; and acknowledging and learning about environmental responsibility at HUS. The aim of the measures included on our climate roadmap 2022–2030 is for our operations to be carbon neutral by 2030 and to enhance low-carbon procurement and construction.

More than half of the measures on our climate roadmap have been implemented or are completed

Of the 104 measures on our climate roadmap, 10 have been completed and 56 were in the implementation phase by the end of 2024.

During 2024, for example, we introduced the HUS low-carbon building code, developed the environmental responsibility of our procurement, optimized transport, reduced the carbon footprint associated with use of anesthetic gases, and improved the management of food and pharmaceutical stocks to reduce waste.

Energy efficiency efforts continued

Our total energy consumption decreased by 4.1% in 2024 to 316,000 MWh. Heating energy consumption decreased by about 4.4% and cooling consumption increased by 13%. Electricity consumption decreased by 1.2%.

Energy consumption was reduced by buildings that were decommissioned, the energy efficiency measures we took, and the year being warmer than the previous year. We further increased energy saving measures under the Energy Efficiency Agreement (2017–2025). Energy savings came from energy efficiency solutions implemented in the Oak Hospital, which was completed at the end of the year, completed solar power plants and lighting upgrades, among other things.  

Good waste performance continued in 2024 thanks to waste reduction, plastic recycling, and digitalization  

Our total waste decreased by almost 4% compared to 2023, to around 7,390 tons.

• The total amount of mixed waste remained almost unchanged, although the volume of activity increased by 2.4% from 2023.
• The amount of plastic collected increased by almost 57% to around 140 tons in total.
• The amount of paper collected decreased by more than a fifth to 213 tons.  
• As in the previous year, the decrease in pharmaceutical waste continued, falling by more than 10% to around 90 tons.

Our efforts in reducing waste in supplies, medicines and food has contributed to the reduction in the amount of total waste. We also developed the digitalization of meal orders, which will help further reduce food waste.  

The environmental partnership network plays an important role  

Around 90 new environmental managers from our wards and units completed the basic environmental manager training. For the third year in a row, the annual HUS Environment Seminar, open to all HUS personnel, attracted more than 200 participants.

The Teams group for environmental matters increased its number of members by 50% to almost 800 members, which increased the flow of information on environmental issues between the different units and further improved the effectiveness of guidance in waste management in particular. We strengthened practical cooperation on environmental issues through hospital-specific environmental meetings, which were attended by around 70 environmental managers.