New HIHI report: The Green Dividend: Ireland’s Health and Enterprise Opportunity

New HIHI report: The Green Dividend: Ireland’s Health and Enterprise Opportunity

Sustainable healthcare, in Ireland and globally, has too often been framed as a cost, a compliance obligation or a long-term ambition deferred to future budgets and future governments. This must change.

Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI) has today published The Green Dividend: Why Sustainability is Ireland’s Health and Enterprise Opportunity, a report presenting clinical and economic evidence that sustainable healthcare products deliver lower costs, reduced carbon emissions and stronger export opportunities for Irish enterprise and warning that Ireland risks losing first-mover advantage unless procurement, funding and policy are aligned to seize it.

The report draws on two completed clinical pilots delivered through HIHI’s GreenTech in Healthcare programme, run in partnership with HSE Climate and Sustainability and the Irish College of General Practitioners. A closed-cabin cleaning system for reusable medical devices, piloted and now in-use at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, reduced energy use by 82 percent compared with ultrasonic cleaners and delivered annual savings of approximately €32,000 with a two-year payback. A refillable ultrasound gel system trialled at University Hospital Galway eliminated single-use plastic gel sachets entirely, cutting gel volume per scan by 95 percent.

Globally, the health sector is responsible for an estimated 5 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions, with 70 percent of that footprint arising from supply chains – production, packaging and disposal. Up to 90 percent of medical device waste in some healthcare settings comprises single use disposables, most of it routed to incineration. The report argues that this is no longer a peripheral issue for health systems, but a clinical, financial and strategic one.

The report also highlights the growing commercial imperative. From April 2027, all NHS suppliers  regardless of size – will be required to publish comprehensive Carbon Reduction Plans covering full Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, a change that will directly affect Irish SMEs and start-ups for whom the UK is a primary export market. Home to over 450 medtech companies, Ireland is well placed to develop the sustainable product alternatives that international markets are increasingly demanding.

Yet the report identifies a significant policy gap: despite being one of the country’s largest purchasers of single-use products, healthcare does not feature as a named priority sector in Ireland’s Whole-of-Government Circular Economy Strategy 2026–2028.

HIHI National Director, Dr Tanya Muclahy said: 

“The environmental footprint of Ireland’s health system, including its energy use, reliance on single use products and waste, is a clinical, financial and strategic challenge that demands action. It is also a genuine opportunity. Through our GreenTech in Health programme, HIHI provides the national testbed infrastructure to turn sustainable innovation into procurement ready, export-competitive solutions.”

HIHI National GreenTech in Health Lead and report author, Eimear Galvin said:

“The regulatory landscape is shifting faster than most Irish healthcare enterprises appreciate. Companies that can demonstrate clinical validation and sustainability credentials will gain access to international markets. Those that cannot, will find doors closing. Ireland has the life sciences sector, the clinical network and the innovation infrastructure to lead this transition. This report makes the case for the investment, procurement reform and policy cohesion required to accelerate it.”

The report sets out recommendations for four system partners:

• The Department of Health to fund green procurement pilots generating lifecycle evidence;
• The HSE to support full Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions reporting and embed circularity criteria in procurement
• Enterprise Ireland to help client companies design ahead of the EU regulatory curve
• Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment to name healthcare as a priority sector in the next iteration of Ireland’s Circular Economy Strategy.

The Green Dividend is authored by Eimear Galvin, HIHI National GreenTech in Health Lead, with review by Dr Tanya Mulcahy, HIHI National Director, and members of the HIHI GreenTech in Health Collective.

The full report: https://hih.ie/downloads/greentech/The-Green-Dividend.pdf

Executive summary here: https://hih.ie/downloads/greentech/The-Green-Dividend-Executive-Summary.pdf