Digital health has revolutionized how people access care, track health data, and communicate with healthcare professionals. From virtual consultations to wearable devices, healthcare has gone digital — and with it comes both promise and responsibility.
While these innovations improve accessibility and efficiency, a growing question remains: What is the environmental impact of digital health?
Digital health sits at a fascinating intersection between innovation and sustainability. On one hand, it reduces travel emissions, medical waste, and paper use. On the other, it depends heavily on data centers, devices, and supply chains that carry significant environmental costs.
Let’s unpack this dual nature and see where digital health stands in the sustainability conversation.
The Dual Nature of Digital Health
The digital transformation of healthcare mirrors the global shift toward sustainability — but not without contradictions.
Digital tools can significantly reduce healthcare’s environmental footprint by minimizing physical resource use. Fewer in-person visits mean less commuting, less paper waste, and lower emissions from large healthcare facilities.
Yet, beneath this efficiency lies an energy-intensive backbone. Every telehealth session, cloud-based record, or connected device depends on servers, networks, and power. The infrastructure that enables “green healthcare” isn’t always green itself.
Digital health’s impact is not purely environmental — it’s systemic. It transforms operations, data management, and access to care. The challenge is ensuring these transformations don’t come at an ecological cost.
Digital Health’s Potential to Reduce Environmental Footprint
When applied thoughtfully, digital health can be a powerful ally in sustainability.
1. Reduced Travel Emissions
Telemedicine drastically lowers travel-related emissions. A study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that video consultations can save over 1,500 pounds of CO₂ per patient annually in rural areas.
2. Less Paper and Physical Waste
Electronic Health Records (EHRs) replace millions of paper files with digital data, reducing deforestation and waste. Remote patient monitoring also decreases hospital stays — lowering energy use and medical waste.
3. Predictive and Preventive Care
AI-driven analytics help prevent chronic conditions before they worsen. This shift from reactive to proactive care saves both physical and environmental resources — fewer emergencies, fewer operations, and fewer supplies.
Digital health, when managed well, enhances patient care and environmental stewardship at once.
However, the other side of the equation deserves equal scrutiny.
The Hidden Environmental Costs
Every click, upload, and video call leaves an invisible energy footprint. Behind every health record lies a data center running 24/7, consuming vast amounts of electricity.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), data centers account for about 1% of global electricity demand, and that number is rising. As healthcare continues digitizing, its share grows too.
Wearables and E-Waste
Wearable devices — from smartwatches to glucose monitors — rely on rare minerals like lithium and cobalt. Their extraction harms ecosystems and their disposal worsens e-waste pollution.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reports over 53 million metric tons of electronic waste generated annually, a portion of which comes from health tech. While digital health cuts physical waste, it creates new digital dependencies with heavy environmental footprints.
Deconstructing the Digital Carbon Footprint
Digital health’s carbon footprint spans four main stages:
- Device production
- Data transmission
- Energy consumption
- End-of-life disposal
Each stage contributes uniquely to environmental degradation.
- Manufacturing requires rare earth elements, often mined through polluting processes.
- Transportation of devices adds global emissions.
- Data storage and streaming consume immense power.
- Long-term data retention (mandated by law) leads to ongoing energy and cooling needs.
Even simple video consultations rely on complex server networks. While each call seems small, multiplied across millions of users, the total energy demand is significant.
The Energy Guzzlers: Data Centers and Devices
Among the biggest contributors are data centers and connected devices.
Data centers act as the brain of digital health, powering everything from AI diagnostics to telemedicine. Unfortunately, many still rely on non-renewable energy sources.
For example, when a hospital system transitions to digital imaging, it might eliminate film waste but increase server energy use by up to 60%. Similarly, AI-driven medical tools require high computing power.
Wearable devices compound this demand. Each constantly uploads data to the cloud, adding to global server loads. Even telecommunications networks consume large amounts of energy — a single HD telehealth call can produce up to 150g of CO₂, equivalent to driving half a kilometer.
Beyond Carbon: The Wider Environmental Costs
Carbon emissions tell only part of the story. The production and disposal of electronic devices also generate toxic waste and water pollution.
E-waste often ends up in landfills, where hazardous materials leach into soil and water. Many countries lack proper recycling facilities, especially where imported health tech is common.
There’s also a human cost. Mining for materials like cobalt — essential for batteries — often involves unsafe labor conditions. Thus, true sustainability in digital health must include social and ethical responsibility alongside environmental awareness.
Quantifying the Impact
Measuring the environmental impact of digital health is complex and fragmented.
- The healthcare sector contributes roughly 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
- A single hospital’s IT infrastructure can generate thousands of tons of CO₂ annually.
- Nationally, digital health’s contribution continues to grow as systems expand cloud usage.
However, inconsistent metrics make it difficult to assess total impact. Some organizations track energy use, others e-waste or supply chains. Without unified sustainability standards, accurate measurement remains elusive.
Challenges in Measuring Digital Health’s Footprint
1. Data Transparency
Many healthcare providers depend on third-party cloud services that don’t disclose their energy sources or carbon data, making footprint estimation difficult.
2. Ecosystem Fragmentation
“Digital health” covers telemedicine, wearables, AI diagnostics, and hospital IT — each with distinct environmental lifecycles. Tracking across this diversity is like weighing a moving target.
3. Greenwashing Risks
Some companies overstate minor sustainability measures while hiding broader environmental costs. The absence of strong sustainability standards in healthcare tech enables such practices to continue.
Strategies for a Sustainable Digital Health Future
1. Adopting Green ICT Principles
Green Information and Communication Technology (Green ICT) aims to minimize tech’s environmental impact.
In healthcare, this can include:
- Using energy-efficient servers
- Optimizing data storage
- Sourcing renewable energy for data centers
Hospitals are already transitioning to renewable-powered cloud platforms like Google Cloud Green Regions and AWS Clean Energy Zones.
Even small optimizations, such as compressing telehealth video streams, can save energy.
2. Sustainable Procurement and Supply Chains
Healthcare organizations can:
- Prioritize suppliers with ISO 14001 or Energy Star certifications
- Extend device lifecycles through refurbishment programs
- Implement device take-back or recycling initiatives
Companies like Apple and Dell have shown these models work — healthcare can follow suit.
3. Policy, Regulation, and Governance
Governments must set clear sustainability standards for digital health.
Policies could include:
- Mandatory carbon reporting
- Renewable energy adoption targets
- Responsible e-waste disposal requirements
The EU Green Deal already includes ICT sustainability targets that can inspire global healthcare systems.
4. Fostering User Responsibility and Awareness
Both patients and healthcare workers play a role in sustainable digital health.
Simple actions make a difference:
- Turning off idle devices
- Updating systems efficiently
- Avoiding unnecessary data backups
Educating users about the energy cost of digital overconsumption encourages mindful tech use.
5. Innovation in Green Digital Health Technologies
The future lies in low-power, eco-friendly health tech.
Innovations include:
- Energy-efficient AI models
- Biodegradable device components
- Cloud systems powered entirely by renewables
- Blockchain-based records with lower energy requirements
Such advances prove that digital health can be both innovative and environmentally conscious.
Conclusion
Digital health stands at a crossroads in the global sustainability movement. It can revolutionize healthcare while reducing environmental strain — but only with intentional design, policy, and awareness.
The question, “What is the environmental impact of digital health?” is not just theoretical — it’s a call to action.
Every stakeholder — from governments to innovators to patients — shares responsibility for shaping a greener, smarter, and more ethical digital healthcare ecosystem.
The path forward lies in balance: harnessing technology’s power while protecting the planet that sustains it.
