The pace and trajectory of global and local environmental changes are jeopardizing our health in numerous ways, among them exacerbating the risk of disease emergence and spread in both the community and the healthcare setting via healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). Factors such as climate change, widespread land alteration, and biodiversity loss underlie changing human–animal–environment interactions that drive disease vectors, pathogen spillover, and cross-species transmission of zoonoses. Climate change–associated extreme weather events also threaten critical healthcare infrastructure, infection prevention and control (IPC) efforts, and treatment continuity, adding to stress to strained systems and creating new areas of vulnerability. These dynamics increase the likelihood of developing antimicrobial resistance (AMR), vulnerability to HAIs, and high-consequence hospital-based disease transmission. Using a One Health approach to both human and animal health systems, we can become climate smart by re-examining impacts on and relationships with the environment. We can then work collaboratively to reduce and respond to the growing threat and burden of infectious diseases.

The climate crisis calls for urgent action from every level of the US healthcare sector, starting with an acknowledgment of our own outsized contribution to greenhouse gas emissions (at least 8.5% of carbon emissions). As the climate continues to become warmer and wetter, the medical establishment must deal with increasing rates of pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases, heat-related illness, and emerging infectious diseases among many other health harms. Additionally, extreme weather events are causing healthcare delivery breakdown due to physical infrastructure damage, slowed supply chains, and workforce burden. Pathways for healthcare systems to meet these challenges are emerging. They entail significant measures to mitigate our carbon footprint, embrace shared and equity-driven governance, develop new metrics of accountability, and build more resilience into our care delivery processes. We call upon SHEA to play a unique leadership role in the fight for sustainable, equitable, and efficient health care in a rapidly changing climate that immediately threatens human well-being.