CHE Seminar Series: Ecological Sustainability, Healthcare and HTA: Ticking the box or holistic solution?
There is growing consensus that healthcare systems must adapt to the impacts of climate change and other ecological threats, and that healthcare must also play its part in mitigating environmental harms – especially given its size and importance in the wider economy. It is therefore unsurprising that, in recent years, interest has grown rapidly in how best to consider and incorporate healthcare’s negative environmental impacts within health technology assessment and economic evaluation. The literature on environmental impacts and HTA has grown fast, yet the practical capacity to undertake environmental life cycle assessments – the core tool underpinning work in this area – has arguably not expanded at a commensurate rate. This presentation will consider some of the questions and constraints which need to be addressed before we move uncritically to make environmental impact assessments a requirement for all HTA processes. These include how we might best prioritise the deployment of the scarce resources available to undertake environmental impact assessments in healthcare; being clear about when environmental impacts may or may not be a potentially decisive factor in decision making; and asking whether HTA and other micro-decision tools are actually significant or effective vehicles for acting on the harmful environmental impacts of healthcare, or whether this is a macro issue better dealt with by other policy tools at system level.
Speaker profile
Martin Hensher is the Henry Baldwin Professorial Research Fellow in Health Systems Sustainability at the Menzies Institute for Medical Research of the University of Tasmania. After a long career in health economics and policy, Martin’s research now integrates health economics with ecological economics to answer questions including climate change mitigation and adaptation for healthcare systems; the future of healthcare in a post-growth economy; and overconsumption and diminishing marginal returns in healthcare. He is co-lead of the Lancet Commission on Sustainable Healthcare Working Group 4 on Health System Transformation, and a member of WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on the Economics of Environment, Climate and Health.
Weekly seminar series
As part of our Centre's vibrant research culture, we host a weekly seminar series. Visiting and invited researchers present current research relating to the economics of health and wellbeing, and the healthcare sector. Visitors are welcome to join these sessions where discussion and debate is encouraged.
For further information on our seminar series, please contact Trong-Anh.Trinh@monash.edu.
Event Details
- Date:
- 13 August 2025 at 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
- Venue:
- Caulfield campus, Building H, level 9, room H9.14
- Categories:
- CHE Seminar; General
Description
There is growing consensus that healthcare systems must adapt to the impacts of climate change and other ecological threats, and that healthcare must also play its part in mitigating environmental harms – especially given its size and importance in the wider economy. It is therefore unsurprising that, in recent years, interest has grown rapidly in how best to consider and incorporate healthcare’s negative environmental impacts within health technology assessment and economic evaluation. The literature on environmental impacts and HTA has grown fast, yet the practical capacity to undertake environmental life cycle assessments – the core tool underpinning work in this area – has arguably not expanded at a commensurate rate. This presentation will consider some of the questions and constraints which need to be addressed before we move uncritically to make environmental impact assessments a requirement for all HTA processes. These include how we might best prioritise the deployment of the scarce resources available to undertake environmental impact assessments in healthcare; being clear about when environmental impacts may or may not be a potentially decisive factor in decision making; and asking whether HTA and other micro-decision tools are actually significant or effective vehicles for acting on the harmful environmental impacts of healthcare, or whether this is a macro issue better dealt with by other policy tools at system level.
Speaker profile
Martin Hensher is the Henry Baldwin Professorial Research Fellow in Health Systems Sustainability at the Menzies Institute for Medical Research of the University of Tasmania. After a long career in health economics and policy, Martin’s research now integrates health economics with ecological economics to answer questions including climate change mitigation and adaptation for healthcare systems; the future of healthcare in a post-growth economy; and overconsumption and diminishing marginal returns in healthcare. He is co-lead of the Lancet Commission on Sustainable Healthcare Working Group 4 on Health System Transformation, and a member of WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on the Economics of Environment, Climate and Health.
Weekly seminar series
As part of our Centre's vibrant research culture, we host a weekly seminar series. Visiting and invited researchers present current research relating to the economics of health and wellbeing, and the healthcare sector. Visitors are welcome to join these sessions where discussion and debate is encouraged.
For further information on our seminar series, please contact Trong-Anh.Trinh@monash.edu.