National Academy of Medicine (NAM), 14 April 2025

Regulatory Agenda: Addressing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Health Care Building Energy Use

Since the early months of 2025, the notion that government would adopt policies to reduce the threats from climate change seems almost quaint. However, physics and chemistry do not negotiate; collective failure to bend the climate curve can only result in increased suffering for increasing numbers of people. Most policies that work to reduce climate impacts have extensive co-benefits: they create jobs, they make the air healthier to breathe, they reduce energy costs to US businesses. Many policy makers in local and state governments still care about these benefits. Importantly, most of the policies described herein for application at a national level can also be applied by state and local authorities.

In the spirit of “first, do no harm,” the policy proposals advanced herein to protect the health of people and the environment—admittedly developed at a time when government seemed more attentive to the issue of climate change—still need to be advanced.