Building a climate-smart practice
Answers in Practice
By Emily Margosian, Senior Editor, September 1, 2025
DermWorld talks to Eva Parker, MD, DTMH, FAAD, about tips for building a sustainable, climate-smart practice.
DermWorld: Tell us about your practice.
DermWorld: How are the health care sector and environment intertwined?
Dr. Parker: Many don’t realize that health care is a huge contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. In the United States, health care’s contribution accounts for about 10% of total greenhouse gas emissions nationally. On an international scale, health care accounts for about 5% of total global greenhouse gas emissions. However, of that 5%, the United States health care sector contributes 25%. Our health care system is not very green at all and we’re a big offender when it comes to waste, emissions, and pollution.
DermWorld: Given that large scope, what are some practical steps individual dermatologists can take to reduce their impact?
Dr. Parker: Like anything else, if it’s not measured, you can’t manage it. The most basic step dermatologists can take is to do assessments of their own waste. One important source is procedural waste. Look at your biopsy trays, excision trays, and how they’re set up. Are there excessive amounts of gauze on the tray? Are there extra instruments that aren’t being used? How, in your context and for your clinic flow, can you minimize that excessive waste? It can just be a simple, practical overview of how to trim the fat off your procedural waste and still have clinic flow properly.
Another big contributor to our carbon footprint is energy. In dermatology we have a high plug and process load. All the equipment that we use — like our lasers, hyfrecators, and even computers —stay plugged in and they’re constantly drawing energy. A simple step is just unplugging things and turning equipment off, especially at night and weekends when it’s not being used. Similarly, setting thermostats to be a little bit warmer during the summer so that the air conditioning is not constantly running nights and weekends. Also consider setting your lights on automatic so that when someone enters the room they turn on, but they’re not on constantly. All of those chip away at our carbon footprint with very minimal effort on our part.
“You get a triple benefit. You’re helping the planet, you’re helping your profits, and you are helping your patients and the people that you employ.”
─ Eva Parker, MD, DTMH, FAAD
DermWorld: Are there tools available to help dermatologists measure and manage their practice’s carbon footprint?
Dr. Parker: There are several toolkits available. The World Health Organization has a guide for environmentally sustainable health care facilities, and for a more dermatology-specific lens, the British Society for Dermatological Surgery (BSDS) has an amazing toolkit for procedural dermatology. My Green Doctor is another great toolkit that is available for free to all members of the American Academy of Dermatology. It has worksheets and ways to engage staff by incorporating it into monthly meetings and creating ‘green teams.’ They also award a Green Doctor Office Recognition certificate to participants. It helps really build team spirit around implementing green efforts in the office. Lastly, the AAD offers sessions at the Annual Meeting and Innovation Academy on this topic, and the Climate Change and Environmental Issues Expert Resource Group provides green office tips in its quarterly newsletter.
DermWorld: What are some benefits of building a more sustainable practice?
Dr. Parker: I think we all have an ethical obligation to ensure community health and population health. That’s why we’re physicians. We now well understand that climate change and air pollution impact health in general in significant and serious ways, but also greatly impact dermatologic health. It’s part of our moral duty to not only take good care of patients, but also to care for the planet and to not harm the planet in providing care to patients.
It does also save money. There are a lot of misconceptions that creating a green practice is going to cost a lot of money. While you can put solar panels on the roof of your practice if you have the funds to do so, even big expenses like that get paid back because there are tax incentives and rebates. Your energy bill also typically becomes so small after that, that it pays for itself in short order. However, most of the small things you can do cost no money and immediately begin to save money.
I also think it gives patients and employees something to feel good about. You get a triple benefit. You’re helping the planet, you’re helping your profits, and you are helping your patients and the people that you employ.
Eva Parker, MD, DTMH, FAAD, is assistant professor of dermatology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
