When he was a nurse clinician in home care, Jérôme Leclerc asked himself how to improve his patients’ health, while the network within which he worked was itself a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. “I made a distinction between my role as a nurse and my environmental concerns. But as I became aware of the scale of the problem, I realized that, as clinicians, we have a say.”

Today as coordinator of the Réseau d’action pour la santé durable du Québec (RASDQ), he is now interested in sustainable health and the different ways of decarbonizing the health network, subjects he discussed with delegates at the 13^th Convention of the FIQ on June 4, 2025.

A network that needs to be transformed

Here like elsewhere, it’s clear that the effects of climate change are becoming increasingly apparent and are having a greater impact on those who are most vulnerable: stronger and more frequent heat waves, longer periods of seasonal allergies, poorer air quality due to forest fires, and the physical and psychological consequences of natural disasters, climate-related migration and conflicts caused by a lack of water or resources.

Faced with these alarming facts, the health network, which produces 3.6% of Quebec’s greenhouse gas emissions, must do its part to move towards a carbon-neutral world. Heating and construction of buildings, travel to work and care, purchasing of equipment and medicines, food preparation, waste production: the sources of the problems are numerous, as are the possible solutions.

Promising projects

To bring about lasting change, you first need to answer two key questions: what is the most promising project for you and your group of influence? What action has the greatest impact? “ It’s what we’re doing here that’s most important,’ says Jérôme Leclerc, stressing the importance of leadership. What makes the biggest difference is having the courage to change things.”

Adding bins to sort waste, replacing the gases used in operating rooms, reprocessing medical equipment instead of throwing it away, reducing the number of drugs prescribed, encouraging physical travel for healthcare workers, and including local products on hospital and CHSLD menus are all ways of reducing the health network’s carbon footprint.

To achieve this, you have to choose your project carefully, prepare your plan and present it to the right people, explained Jérôme Leclerc, who identified sustainable development officers, green committees and the ÉCO-Council of Physicians, Dentists and Pharmacists (CMDP) as important allies within healthcare institutions.

Calling on FIQ delegates to discuss the environment with their members and take action, the RASDQ coordinator pointed out that the vast majority of clinicians want to be informed and participate in this transition, which, by 2025, is unavoidable for society as a whole.

es déléguées de la FIQ à parler d’environnement avec les membres et à prendre action, le coordonnateur du RASDQ rappelle que la très grande majorité des clinicien-ne-s souhaitent être informé-e-s et participer à cette transition, qui, en 2025, est incontournable pour toute la société.