Measuring the environmental impact of health interventions to promote a sustainable future

The healthcare sector has an important role in environmental sustainability. At YHEC, we believe understanding the environmental impact of healthcare interventions is more than a regulatory requirement. It’s a fundamental step toward building a more resilient and sustainable healthcare system for everyone.

We deliver robust analyses that empower our clients, healthcare systems, public sector bodies and policymakers to make environmentally informed decisions. Furthermore, our commitment to sustainability goes beyond individual client projects. We are dedicated to working with healthcare systems and policymakers to embed environmental considerations into the framework of health technology assessment (HTA).

How can YHEC’s expertise in environmental research help you?

Our environmental impact services support a diverse range of decisions for industry, health systems and the public sector, including:

  • Highlighting added value: We help innovators and organisations demonstrate the value of their interventions by assessing environmental impact. Specifically, we can provide robust evidence to support decisions on investment, market access, and broader adoption through comprehensive life-cycle assessments and carbon footprint analysis.
  • Guiding data collection: Offering expert recommendations and guidance on how to effectively capture comprehensive and relevant data on environmental outcomes for your products, services or pathways. This is especially useful for health systems looking to measure their environmental footprint.
  • Informing policy and investment decisions: We equip decision-makers with crucial evidence on environmental outcomes, encouraging them to consider sustainability as a key societal outcome alongside health and cost effectiveness. Ultimately, this broader perspective is essential for creating lasting and sustainable policy.

Why partner with YHEC?

Partnering with YHEC to assess the environmental impact of health interventions and services means partnering with a team that offers:

YHEC is a world leader in this field. We understand how to consider environmental outcomes alongside traditional health economic outcomes. We published the first study to elicit public preferences on trade-offs between health and the environment. Furthermore, we are the only group to produce full societal carbon estimations for healthcare policies. Our employees are passionate about this field of research. For example, one YHEC employee co-founded the Environmental Sustainability in HTA working group for HTAi.

We offer a diverse range of services tailored to assess and enhance environmental outcomes in healthcare. For example, we conduct full life-cycle assessments to evaluate a product’s carbon emissions from production to disposal. We also specialise in evaluating the carbon impact of changes in healthcare pathways. Additionally, we provide expert recommendations on how to effectively capture data on various environmental outcomes. Furthermore, we engage in dedicated methods research focused on accurately measuring environmental outcomes within the healthcare context.

Beyond delivering project-specific analyses, YHEC is dedicated to empowering clients and the wider healthcare community through education. We offer specialised training courses on environmental sustainability in decision making, sharing our expertise and insights to foster greater understanding of environmental considerations within healthcare.

We see our work as part of a wider mission to drive meaningful change in healthcare. We go beyond simply meeting client needs, actively working to embed sustainability as a core consideration for health systems, policymakers, and industry, helping to address the big challenges of our time.

Explore YHEC's recent publications in this area

Peer-reviewed publication

The New Definition of Early Health Technology Assessment: Implications for Incorporating Environmental Sustainability

YHEC authors: Melissa Pegg
Publication date: July 2025
Journal: Technology Assessment in Health Care

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this paper is to present the Environmental Sustainability in Health Technology Assessment (ESHTA) Working Group’s (WG’s) opinion on the definition and scope of early Health Technology...

Conference proceeding

Technical Validation of an Environmental Model of Aurora EV-ICD: Recommendations to Guide Environmental Criteria in Health Technology Assessment

YHEC authors: Melissa Pegg
Publication date: November 2024
Conference: ISPOR EU, Barcelona
Type of conference proceeding: Podium

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Climate breakdown is affecting human health globally. The National Health Service (NHS) generates 26 million tonnes of CO2e per annum equivalent to the size of Croatia's annual emissions. Healthcare...

Peer-reviewed publication

Eliciting Trade-Offs Between Population Health and Environmental Outcomes: A Pilot Study

YHEC authors: Melissa Pegg, Erin Barker, Matthew Taylor
Publication date: October 2024
Journal: European Journal of Environment and Public Health

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate whether it is possible to elicit how United Kingdom (UK) public citizens might trade off human health and environmental outcomes. METHODS:...

Talk to our expert

For more information about our work on environmental impact, talk to our expert – Matthew Taylor.

A head and shoulders photo of Matthew Taylor sitting in front of a bookcase in his office.