Sustainability Annual Report 2024
In fiscal year 2024, UCI Health continued its commitment to sustainability.
Construction on the nation’s first all-electric medical center continued, completing the fully electric Joe C. Wen and Family Advanced Care Center.
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UCI Health continued its decarbonization efforts to meet the White House Climate Pledge to reduce emissions 50% by 2030. In an effort to reduce anesthetic gas emissions, UCI Health transitioned away from piped nitrogen dioxide to administer through canisters in all operating rooms, resulting in a 26% decrease of purchased nitrous oxide from last year and an 82% decrease in emissions from purchased volatile anesthetic agents from a 2016 baseline. The location completed a decarbonization study to determine a roadmap to reduce emissions by 90% by 2045.
UCI Health increased its medical device reprocessing efforts, doubling cost savings to $1.6 million and successfully diverting over 10 tons of waste, underscoring a commitment to both financial performance and environmental stewardship. To increase the percentage of clean energy vehicles in its fleet, Parking & Transportation Services replaced two fossil fuel-powered patient shuttles with two electric shuttles and has two more on order for fiscal year 2025. The Facilities Department continued to add bicycles to its 35 human-powered fleet and replaced all combustion landscaping equipment with electric equipment. Additionally, UCI Health added bicycle rack infrastructure to the main hospital campus and off-site clinics. To continue building out its electric vehicle infrastructure, UCI Health added 17 dual port charging stations with a project to install 10 more charging stations planned for fiscal year 2025.
ENERGY USE INTENSITY (EUI)
UC Irvine Health saw a decrease in its EUI in the calendar year 2023.
FOOD
of food and beverage purchases met sustainability criteria ($690K)
of food and beverage purchases were plant-based ($1.4M)
The UC Sustainable Practices Policy defines sustainable food according to Practice Greenhealth’s definition for health locations. In fiscal year 2024, Practice Greenhealth updated its definition and the certifications that qualify as “sustainable food.” As a result, some certified products UCI purchased last fiscal year no longer qualified as sustainable spend. Thus, UCI Health’s sustainable food spend dropped from 24.5% to 11% overall. UCI Health’s Culinary and Nutrition team is working to align its fiscal year 2025 purchases with the new criteria to reach the policy goal. The location saw spending increases in two categories, animal welfare and antibiotic-free (spending doubled).
procurement
green spend on appliances and IT hardware (95%)
green spend on office supplies (6%)
cost savings through medical device reprocessing (representing 20,140 pounds of waste avoided)
UCIH recently partnered with a new supplier as part of a strategic initiative to enhance its medical device reprocessing efforts. This partnership was designed to expand the types of product categories collected, boost collection efficiency and significantly increase buyback opportunities. This strategic shift is already yielding impressive results. Compared with the previous fiscal year, UCIH doubled its cost savings to $1.6 million and diverted over 10 tons of waste, underscoring a commitment to both financial performance and environmental stewardship.
Green spend is defined as meeting preferred or minimum criteria in UC’s Sustainable Procurement Guidelines.
Suppliers reporting: Appliances and IT hardware (6), Office supplies (1).
“Reprocessing” refers to the FDA-approved re-manufacturing process carried out on a used device, including cleaning, disinfection, sterilization, testing and related procedures to allow its safe reuse. This process allows health facilities to reduce their reliance on single-use devices.
Transportation
of students and employees are utilizing sustainable commuting methods
of all vehicles and 0% of sedans and minivans acquired in 2024 were electric (zero-emission), plug-in hybrid or clean transportation fuel
EV charging ports
In an effort to reduce commuter emissions and increase participation in alternative transportation programs, Parking and Transportation Services increased outreach and promotional events through Bike to Work Day, New Employee Orientations and Rideshare Week. As a result, participation in the Commuter Alternatives and Rideshare Program and average vehicle ridership increased from last year. UCI Health added 14 dual-port and two single-port accessible electric vehicle charging stations, with a project to install 10 additional charging stations approved for funding and installation in fiscal year 2025.
WATER
*Based on a 3-year average of fiscal years 2005-08
**2025 goal is a 36% reduction from baseline.
UCI Health reduced water usage by 55% from the policy-established baseline, exceeding the 2025 goal of reducing growth-adjusted water consumption 36% by 2025. In addition, UCI Health reduced its total water use compared to the previous year by 8 percentage points.
ZERO WASTE – GENERATION
*Per capita figures are calculated using Adjusted Patient Day (APD).
**Data provided if not counted in other waste streams.
The municipal solid waste and organics waste streams increased at the hospital campus. This was a result of a general increase in volume with 42 more beds, 200,000 more outpatient visits, a 28% increase in operating room case volume and a 13% increase in adjusted patient day. Waste reduction and diversion initiatives, including a campus-wide organics diversion program and recycling program for the operating rooms and pharmacies, are under development.
Single-Use Plastics Phase-Out
Complete Phase-out*
- Plastic bags
- Foodware in UC dining facilities
- Foodware in third-party dining facilities
- Beverage bottles in UC dining facilities
Partial Phase-out
- N/A
Starting Soon
- Beverage bottles in vending machines
*Complete phase-out of single-use plastics may include exemptions where reasonable alternatives to plastic do not exist.
UCI Health sought to eliminate single-use plastics by removing plastic bottles from all retail spaces. Previously, more than 20,000 plastic bottles of water, juices, sodas and protein shakes were sold every month. The Culinary and Nutrition team also replaced plastic cutlery with reusable utensils for all patient meals.
Awards
For the third consecutive year, UCI Health was recognized for its leadership in health care sustainability, receiving the Practice Greenhealth Emerald Award, Circle of Excellence Award for Climate, Circle of Excellence Award for Energy and Greening the OR Recognition Award.
A full list of awards is featured on the UC Office of the President’s website.
Combined Data
Progress on the following policy areas for this Health System is reported by the campus location:
Image credit: CO Architects