Abstract:
The environmental commitment of healthcare stakeholders is poorly described despite the sector pollution and the social needs of more sustainable behaviors. A cross-sectional study comparing the environment commitment of US publicly traded companies producing healthcare equipment (HE), healthcare companies (H), and large capitalization corporates (LC) was designed. Using a financial database, the 20 largest US publicly traded companies by market capitalization were selected for each cohort. The last available sustainability report was investigated, aiming to assess (1) the year and the method of dissemination of the last report; (2) the adhesion to environmental standards; (3) the presence of environmental policies, quantitative targets, and tracking; (4) the third-party evaluations about company environmental sustainability. HE companies published sustainability reports in time (p = 0.048), usually as standalone reports (p < 0.001). Half of HE companies adhered to standards, less than the control groups (p < 0.001). HE companies had an acceptable environmental policy, improving over the time and posing targets, similarly to control groups (p > 0.05). The number of companies reporting quantitative targets/tracking about carbon footprint, water, and renewable energy managements differed among the three cohorts (p = 0.013, p = 0.013, and p < 0.001, respectively), with HE cohort achieving the lowest rates (70%, 70%, and 50%, respectively). Carbon neutrality and all renewable energy statements were rare among HE companies (10% and 5% of companies, p < 0.007). In HE, CDP (The Carbon Disclosure Project) scores were lower than controls (p < 0.001). US publicly traded companies producing healthcare equipment demonstrated to be far less committed to environmental sustainability than healthcare companies and large capitalization corporates. Level of evidence: IV.
摘要:
尽管行业污染和更可持续行为的社会需求,但医疗保健利益相关者的环境承诺描述不佳。一项横断面研究,比较了生产医疗保健设备(HE)的美国上市公司的环境承诺,医疗保健公司(H),并设计了大资本公司(LC)。使用金融数据库,按市值计算的20家最大的美国上市公司被选入每个队列.最后一份可持续发展报告进行了调查,旨在评估(1)上一份报告的发布年份和方法;(2)对环境标准的遵守;(3)环境政策的存在,量化目标,和跟踪;(4)关于公司环境可持续性的第三方评估。HE公司及时发布了可持续发展报告(p=0.048),通常作为独立报告(p<0.001)。一半的HE公司遵守标准,低于对照组(p<0.001)。他的公司有一个可以接受的环境政策,随着时间的推移和目标的提高,与对照组相似(p>0.05)。报告定量目标/跟踪碳足迹的公司数量,水,和可再生能源管理在三个队列中有所不同(分别为p=0.013,p=0.013和p<0.001),HE队列的发病率最低(70%,70%,50%,分别)。碳中和和所有可再生能源声明在HE公司中很少见(10%和5%的公司,p<0.007)。在他,CDP(碳披露项目)得分低于对照组(p<0.001)。事实证明,生产医疗设备的美国上市公司对环境可持续性的承诺远不及医疗保健公司和大型资本公司。证据级别:IV。