Our Pillars & History

Passionate About Protecting the Environment and Our Communities’ Health

Climate change and environmental degradation are known threats to human health. The Center for the Environment and Health at Massachusetts General Hospital acknowledges climate change as a public health crisis. As a major academic medical center, a purchaser of supplies and materials, a consumer of significant energy and a generator of waste, Mass General has a responsibility to its patients and staff, and to its local and global communities to be environmentally responsible.

To oversee and advance the hospital’s sustainability efforts, the center—led by a group of hospital and clinical leaders—is comprised of representatives from throughout the institution involved in environmental efforts. In collaboration with Mass General Brigham, the Center coordinates the breadth of sustainability programs large and small that are ongoing at the hospital, expands those that are most effective, and proposes and considers bold and innovative new initiatives.

Through the efforts of the center, Mass General strives to integrate sustainability into all aspects of its mission in order to improve the environmental health of the hospital, as well as the health and well-being of the diverse communities it serves. In addition, the center promotes gathering appropriate data, disseminating new knowledge and learning the best ways to approach environmental issues from the health and health care perspectives.

Connecting Human Health to the Health of the Planet

The Mass General Center for the Environment and Health aims to make sustainability a core consideration for all of our clinical and non-clinical actions. Ultimately, with a comprehensive sustainability program, the center’s specific efforts include initiatives to accomplish the following:

• Leverage evidence-based best practices and global standards to make a positive impact on the natural environment
• Set science-based measurable goals and report on performance regularly in order to ensure accountability, transparency and innovation
• Collaborate with others in health care and across industries
• Educate individuals and influence public policy to improve the health of Mass General and Greater Boston area
• Encourage all employees to participate in sustainability efforts and empower them to become advocates
• Advocate for the protection of human health through environmental conservation
• Create new knowledge in sustainability science and at the intersection of the environment and human health

Learn more about our initiatives

A Brief History of Sustainability Efforts at Mass General

2021: The Center for the Environment and Health is formed

The center grew out of the steadily increasing recognition that the links between the environmental crises and health represents one of the greatest public health threats facing us now and in the future. Individuals in various roles at Mass General were already involved in environmental efforts of various scopes, including science, policy, advocacy, operations and clinical care. By January 2021, the Center for the Environment and Health was officially founded—the result of efforts that had been years in the making.

2019: The formation of the Executive Sustainability Committee

In April 2019, the Mass General Executive Sustainability Committee was formed with the goal of advancing environmental sustainability throughout the hospital.

2018: Renewable sources of electricity

In 2018, Mass General sources 100% of its electricity from renewable sources.

2017: The concept for the center is born

The concept for the Center for the Environment and Health was developed when a group of Mass General staff members convened in the pursuit of advancing the hospital’s commitment to sustainability. This inaugural team created the first set of goals that would later become the center’s core initiatives.

2016: Significant reduction in waste

Under the leadership of Bill Banchiere, former director of Mass General Environmental Services, the hospital recycled 581 tons of cardboard, 612 tons of paper, 380 tons of food, 1,147 tons of construction waste and 849 tons of medical waste.

2010: Mass General founded the Healthier Hospitals Initiative

Mass General, through Mass General Brigham, is a founding member of the Healthier Hospitals Initiative, which works to provide guidance to and encourage health care organizations to move toward sustainability by choosing meaningful goals, adopting best practices and measuring progress.

2010: Raising Environmental Awareness League

Mass General started the Raising Environmental Awareness League to focus on sustainability efforts across the hospital.

2008: Goal set to reduce energy consumption by 25% by 2020

Mass General set a goal of reducing energy consumption 25% by 2020—an ambitious undertaking. Mass General reached that goal in just five years.