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Takeda and Boston Medical Center Announce Innovative Collaboration to Help Tackle Decarbonization Across Health Care Ecosystem

In This Article:

  • First-of-its-Kind Research Collaboration for Takeda and Boston Medical Center with the Aim to Decarbonize the Health Care Value Chain

  • Three-Year Collaboration to Tackle Carbon Emissions from Regulated Medical Waste, Including Pharmaceutical Packaging

  • Learnings will be Shared to Scale Decarbonization Solutions Across the Health Care Value Chain

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & BOSTON, October 24, 2024--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Takeda (TOKYO:4502/NYSE:TAK) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) today announced a new collaboration focused on identifying innovative solutions that can reduce hard-to-abate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the health care sector. The collaboration between Takeda and BMC aims to reduce the GHG emissions caused by disposal of regulated medical waste, such as pharmaceutical packaging and single-use plastics, which are among the most difficult environmental challenges facing the industry. The effort will also seek to scale the interventions developed through the collaboration by sharing best practices to help other organizations adopt and learn new ways to decarbonize in their operations to drive wider health care ecosystem impact.

"At BMC, as a national leader in environmental excellence, we have long recognized that sustainability is health care," said Robert Biggio, Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability & Real Estate Officer at Boston Medical Center Health System. "Increasing health risks exacerbated by climate change, such as extreme heat, pollution, biodiversity loss and other environmental impacts are a real and direct threat to patient and community wellbeing. Our collaboration with Takeda aims to drive meaningful change by tackling environmental challenges that contribute to health disparities in many communities. This collaboration is a critical step in driving innovation in the medical supply chain that can be shared with other health care organizations for a healthier environment for all communities."

A key objective of this collaboration is to effectively identify, pilot and share valuable insights on decarbonization solutions that other healthcare organizations can adopt as they also seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This may include engaging with other industry stakeholders, such as suppliers, waste vendors, and packaging providers to share and establish new best practices and practical applications.

As a part of this collaboration, Boston Medical Center will conduct waste audits across key clinical areas to identify emission hotspots and pilot new technologies aimed at reducing emissions from the disposal of regulated medical waste, including pharmaceutical packaging. BMC, recognized with multiple Practice Greenhealth Top 25 Environmental Excellence Awards, is the first hospital in the nation to leverage a rooftop solar array to provide energy bill credit to eligible patients facing energy insecurity. The hospital built two rooftop farms supplying fresh produce for the hospital's food pantry, patient meals and local community organizations, and opened the first net-zero ready for energy behavioral health facility—among other leading initiatives. BMC was also the first nonprofit health care organization in the country to issue sustainability bonds with a $232 million bond sale for campus renovations to better support patient care.