Environment

The environmental management policy at Asklepios aims to reduce the negative impacts of our business activities on the environment, thereby making a contribution to environmental and climate protection. As part of our materiality analysis, we identified the action areas in which Asklepios has the greatest leverage and validated these in 2022. These action areas are: energy and emissions, waste as well as water. To optimise our environmental management in these areas, we automate the compilation of our set of key figures so that we can systematically pursue our stated goals and explain our progress transparently in the future.

Overall responsibility for environmental management rests with the Asklepios Management Board. The ESG Board, which was established in 2021 and meets as part of the regular Management Board meetings, is responsible for strategic organisation and project management. The Service Technology division handles strategic and operational environmental management centrally. After approval by the ESG Board, the technical management at the respective healthcare facilities deals with implementation. Support for specific questions is provided by the Service Technology and Purchasing & Supply divisions. Technical management monitors the operation of all equipment and devices. It also oversees various construction and renovation projects. In relation to the latter, advice is given by the Group Architecture and Construction division, which is also responsible for developing company-wide standards for new buildings and renovations.

Reducing CO₂ emissions

As a healthcare group, Asklepios is aware of its responsibility to protect and conserve natural resources. One major lever here is energy-efficient, low-emission operation of our roughly 170 healthcare facilities. Central goals include continuously reducing CO₂ emissions as well as increasing the purchase of energy from renewable sources. We want to achieve through measures such as renovations to improve energy efficiency, reducing electricity consumption and promoting sustainable mobility.

Our sustainability activities in the area of energy and emissions are based on an intelligent, comprehensive energy and building management system, which we intend to implement at all locations by the end of 2023. In 2022, we carried out inspections at a total of 52 locations, developed meter concepts at 39 locations and introduced the energy management software at seven locations.

In five steps, we want to utilise the greatest CO₂ savings and cut costs but without impairing our security of supply:

CO₂ footprint for Scope 1 and 2

We are aware that having a data pool that is as exact as possible forms the basis for all measures to save CO₂. For this reason, we prepared a CO₂ assessment at Group level in 2021. In the first step, CO₂ emissions in Scope 1 (direct emissions, e.g. from boilers, cogeneration plants and the vehicle fleet) and Scope 2 (indirect emissions from external procurement of energy) were calculated. In the second step, we want to design and continuously implement detailed measures on this basis in order to reduce our CO₂ footprint (Scope 1 and Scope 2) verifiably. The collection of data on Scope 1 and 2 emissions laid the foundations to be able to fulfil our responsibility for climate protection in the future.

CO₂ reduction measures at many locations

In 2022, we already defined measures to reduce CO₂ and implemented smart energy management software at 30 locations, including those covered in 2021. At the same time, we examined the locations for savings and efficiency potential. This work will form the basis for the next energy audit in 2023. We have identified three areas that offer high savings potential: lighting, ventilation and heating technology. Based on this, we have derived recommendations and actions that have already been implemented at numerous locations – such as lowering the temperature in server rooms and optimising the alignment between flow and return temperatures when heating buildings.

Recommended actions for employees

By way of an information campaign, we raised awareness of the responsible use of resources among our employees. Posters were put up in the hospitals and stickers were distributed.

Reducing waste

As a hospital operator, we often use sterile instruments and disposable materials due to the strict hygiene requirements that apply in our sector, which leads to high material consumption. In addition, the delivery of food to our patients also results in large quantities of food waste, which adds to our overall waste volumes. Since we have a responsibility to conserve resources as much as possible throughout the Group, we have defined the reduction of waste as a key sustainability topic.

Surgical instruments can also be recycled

In 2022, the hospitals in Altona, Barmbek, Heidberg and Harburg continued the project to recycle surgical instruments that was launched in 2020. The hospitals use a digitally supported return system for powered staplers, which for hygiene reasons have to be disposed of after being used once. In contrast to the incineration of these instruments as usual, valuable raw materials are not lost in this process. Instead, metals and plastics are recycled and returned to the material cycle. Together with Ethicon, a division of Johnson & Johnson, and the start-up Resourcify, we intend to roll out the pilot project as a standard process at the Asklepios hospitals in Hamburg.