Blog/News

What started as a quest for improving aging energy infrastructure and overall operational resilience, evolved to an opportunity to become the first net-zero pediatric hospital campus in the country and largest renewable energy microgrid for a hospital emergency system in the country.

Striving to become the first net-zero pediatric hospital campus in the country, Valley Children’s Healthcare is launching a revolutionary energy resilience and environmental strategy. Upon completion, Valley Children’s will achieve net-zero carbon emissions and operate the largest pediatric healthcare-based renewable energy microgrid in the country.

As a Benefit Corporation, we are accountable to driving a public benefit to better society and our physical environment. As a Benefit Corporation, our public benefit should equate to our overall mission. At the end of last year, we resolved this disconnect. Mazzetti’s mission/benefit is, officially, BENDING THE CLIMATE CURVE™ 

There are key differences in developing a climate resiliency plan versus traditional emergency management and hazard mitigation planning. The most important difference is that the frame of reference becomes future oriented.

Inventorying GHG emissions for a healthcare system is a complex and challenging process. Yet understanding the volume of your organization’s GHG emissions is key to developing effective mitigation strategies. Done well, these mitigation strategies benefit your organization in multiple ways. Shrinking your carbon footprint, lowering energy costs, and releasing fewer pollutants into your local communities can help your organization improve its sustainability and potentially reduce the cost of care.

Mazzetti, a global Healthcare Engineering & Consulting firm, was celebrated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) on November 10, 2022 for pledging ongoing action to decarbonize the health care sector and make health care facilities more resilient to the effects of climate change.

Many healthcare systems are aware they need to think about the impact of a changing climate on their ability to deliver effective health services. This awareness likely stems from the increasing frequency and severity of climate change-driven disasters. These disasters have included year-round wildfires, increasingly intense rain events and flooding, unseasonable freezes and record-setting heat.

The Inflation Reduction Act was developed in reaction to exponential rises in the cost of energy, global impacts of climate change, and a growing need for the federal government to ease these economic burdens on American's. This bill incentivizes emissions reductions by providing tax credits accessible by private citizens, local municipalities, large corporations, and disadvantaged communities to produce clean power, increase climate resiliency, and modernize existing infrastructure.

It’s imperative for healthcare organizations to lead on climate change action; here’s a primer on what to do now.

Mazzetti has been an employee-owned Benefit Corporation since 2015. ESG is not our flavor of the month; it’s our ONLY flavor. Towards this, we’ve been carbon neutral - inventorying our own greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and offsetting them since 2017.

Meet Christina Vernon Sanborn, Mazzetti’s new Senior Decarbonization Specialist. An architect, Christina brings unique owner experience in the Healthcare and Education sectors, in facility planning, design, and operations. Her passion and expertise in sustainability coupled with her ability to drive positive change is an effective combo (and her track record vouches). Christina, though based in Cleveland, OH, will serve Mazzetti clients nationwide, helping yield positive climate-responsible solutions.