South Eastern Sydney Local Health District has started the climb in becoming more environmentally-friendly.
The district, which includes St George and Sutherland Hospitals, launched its Environmental Sustainability Plan this month.
It is scouted as a significant step taken to recognise and act on waste production.
The plan, a first in Australia to be guided by the Sustainable Development Assessment Tool (SDAT), sets out an intentionally ambitious agenda to address the district's climate risk and to take the opportunities to improve health, and save money and carbon.
It is a tool that has already proven to be successful overseas. The idea was developed by the National Health Service in the UK, and was able to reduce that country's carbon footprint by almost 20 per cent between 2008 and 2018.
A project closer to home has been developed across several months in close consultation with staff, and draws on the latest international evidence.
The healthcare sector is a major contributor to carbon pollution. It is estimated to contribute seven per cent of Australia's total carbon footprint, and almost half of the health system's carbon footprint is from hospitals.
By way of comparison, the carbon footprints of the UK and US health sectors are four per cent and 10 per cent respectively.
Addressing 'green' challenges including waste and energy, is top of the agenda. Immediate tactics will focus on reducing waste and managing energy use within hospital walls.
This will be done by empowering staff, reducing product materials, calculating the effects of procedures including blood tests, reducing healthcare spend on procedures of low clinical value, and considering the design and construction of new builds and refurbishment projects.
Medical environmental sustainability expert, Kate Charlesworth, is the first physician in Australia to be given the dedicated role.
Dr Charlesworth was appointed in the position in 2018. A former doctor, she specialised in public health medicine such as measles outbreaks and vaccinations, before she became interested in climate change and its connections to human health.
She worked in a world-leading sustainable development unit in the UK, which made a remarkable reduction in carbon emissions. Her recent PhD explores the future of a sustainable health and care system.
"It really set a benchmark and had huge successes in the past decade," Dr Charlesworth said.
"This is about recognising the connection between climate change and health, which is something a lot of private and corporate sectors are taking on now, but it's a big opportunity for the public sector to make changes across health.
"Australia is behind, and hospitals are carbon intensive. We need to be heading towards a different model of care. We're seeing more chronic diseases, and hospitals need to think more about being innovative and creative."
She says among the biggest 'wasters' within hospitals are pharmaceuticals.
"Pharma is responsible for 19 per cent of carbon footprint in this country, it's hot-spot," she said.
"Doctors and nurses are amazed by that figure. There's a long supply chain - manufacturing, packaging, distribution. Operative theatres are also up there, within intensive and emergency care.
"Hospital staff are very keen because they see how single use items are a big waste issue. Plastics pollution is a great concern. There have been studies done on air quality where hospitals are also produce dioxins and making children sick - it's ironic because we're making our own patients sick, so we're trying to be part of the solution because it's potentially catastophic for our lives."
Dr Charlesworth says St George Hospital has been proactive in wanting to make change a reality.
"It's been great and is a very active hospital," she said. "Lots of doctors and nurses get it. The health sector can be a climate leader. It's our duty of care."