Climate resilient and environmentally sustainable radiology: a framework for implementation

Abstract

Climate change adversely impacts human health and transformations in our approach to work are needed to build environmentally sustainable and climate resilient radiology systems. Radiology practices must reduce greenhouse gas emissions generated in the delivery of care while simultaneously building infrastructure and processes to anticipate, respond to, and recover from climate-related environmental events. The purpose of this review is to highlight the links between climate change, human health, and radiology; discuss mitigation, adaptation, and response approaches; describe opportunities to leverage existing knowledge such as pandemic planning and supply chain management; and develop a radiology resilience checklist to assess vulnerabilities and inform actions necessary to achieve environmentally sustainable and climate resilient practices. The proposed framework is based on 5 pillars of climate resilience capacity—threshold, coping, recovery, adaptive, and transformative. Key actions include increasing awareness of the health impacts of climate change, optimizing infrastructure, improving supply chain management, reducing energy use, and addressing health disparities through collaboration with stakeholders. These strategies are needed to reduce the environmental impact radiology service delivery, prepare for and minimize the effects of climate change on imaging departments, and build capacity to recover quickly from climate-related environmental impacts, ultimately improving planetary health and human well-being.