CLIMATE CHANGE IS REACHING ALARMING LEVELS GLOBALLY
Climate change is reaching alarming levels globally. One sector that is often overlooked in this issue is the healthcare sector: healthcare systems account for over 4% of global CO2 emissions, which is more than aviation. NLC has the ambition to help healthcare transition to a lower-carbon future.
To do this, we eventually want to build ventures that are conscious about their footprint as a company as well as about their products. To further build on the ambition we have launched the Green Health Challenge, aiming to build ventures that have ‘happy planet’ as a primary focus.
Most of our ventures do not (yet) explicitly focus on reducing waste or emissions as a company and/or for their products, as shown by a ‘negative’ score in our impact assessment. There are, however, already some showcases within our portfolio:
Osteoweld is ISO14001-certified: an internationally agreed standard that sets out the requirements for an environmental management system.
AI Sentia eliminates the need for the use of contrast agents – directly impacting a waste stream within hospitals.
Several of our ventures are consciously thinking about what part of their products needs to be ‘disposal’ and what can be reused. The latter, however, will be a step-by-step transition as this also impacts their business model, as well as the associated costs (and price) in comparison to current treatments.