UnitedHealth Group announced a 2035 deadline to be carbon neutral during its annual Investor Conference, as well as a goal to go paperless for patients and providers. The payer is aiming to pair net-zero carbon emissions with investing in renewable energy.
- Goal: UnitedHealth Group also set a goal of going paperless within the next two to three years, cutting down on the company’s 3.4 billion pages of annual package information. To support the move, the payer is doubling down on a streamlined digital system that reduces the burden on providers.
- Initiative: The move follows UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty being named co-chair of the National Academy of Medicine’s Climate Collaborative, which aims to shrink healthcare’s carbon footprint. Their environmental management efforts are overseen by our chief financial officer and senior vice president of Corporate Services. The Public Policy Strategies and Responsibility Committee of the Board of Directors oversees our Corporate Environmental Policy.
- Commitments: UnitedHealth Group is committed to transparently minimizing the company’s environmental impact by reducing our carbon footprint, ensuring efficient use of water and energy, developing and implementing comprehensive recycling and waste management programs, and engaging our employees and partners in thoughtful, goal-based environmental stewardship.
- Environmental effect: Reducing carbon emissions has been a long-standing priority for their company. Their global energy conservation program is a fundamental part of their carbon emissions reduction strategy, focusing on the integration of core sustainability principles in the management of the global real estate portfolio.
- Report: UnitedHealthGroup’s 2020 reported annual carbon emissions data is the most comprehensive to date and includes integrated global real estate operations in the United States, the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the Asia-Pacific region.