The Swiss healthcare system has recently produced one tonne of CO2 emissions per year per inhabitant, according to Lausanne’s chief physician Nicolas Senn. Measures such as more energy-efficient buildings would already greatly reduce emissions, he said.

The Swiss health system is responsible for 6-8% of the country’s total CO2 emissions, Senn said in an interview with Le Temps published on Friday. The health system would even consume the entire CO2 budget if Switzerland wanted to comply with the Paris climate agreement, he said.

Senn is head of the Department of Family Medicine at the Unisanté University Health Centre in Lausanne. He is also co-head of the Platform for Sustainability and Health of the Faculty of Biology and Medicine at the University of Lausanne. …