Cleveland Clinic's Office for a Healthy Environment (OHE) was created in 2007 in response to a heightened awareness of our organization's impact on our regional environment and on climate change at large. Employee-led green teams are located at all major facilities in the system, and team leaders report up to a system-level green team to allow sharing of best practices and consistent approaches enterprisewide. Each green team is accountable for progress, metrics and program implementation at our sites across the enterprise.
In addition, in 2008 a new enterprise-wide Energy Committee was formed to provide multistakeholder guidance for energy contracts and energy efficiency investments.
Among other affiliations, Cleveland Clinic is an ENERGY STAR Partner, a member of Practice Greenhealth and the US Green Building Council, and an active participant in Sustainable Cleveland 2019.
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Cleveland Clinic began its sustainability journey in early 2007, initially focusing on healthy buildings. In May 2007, we hosted a workshop with Bill McDonough, author and architect, to launch our comprehensive sustainability work and establish and the Office for a Healthy Environment. We are transforming our operations and seeking innovative ways to protect community health in everything that we do.
The Office for a Healthy Environment seeks to influence caregivers across the enterprise. Each caregiver has the opportunity to make small changes that can make a big difference. By encouraging ownership, we are able to leverage change at the scale of the whole. A small team, the Office for a Healthy Environment oversees a network of volunteer green teams across the enterprise to facilitate change at the local level and reaches out to leaders to make change at the enterprise level.
Cleveland Clinic believes in Cleveland. We understand that the health of our communities relies on the health of our ecosystem. A healthy, prosperous Cleveland helps make Cleveland Clinic more sustainable. We believe our triple-bottom-line approach of equity, ecology, and economy makes our organization and our community a healthier, successful, green city on a blue lake.
Cleveland Clinic Health System is proud to have been recognized for our sustainability work at the local, regional and national levels. We have secured over 50 Practice Greenhealth Awards, including its top-level award, the Environmental Leadership Circle, for our Main Campus. Huron Hospital received the Ohio EPA Governor's Excellence Award and the Ohio Hospital Association's John Chapman award. In 2011, we were proud to be named ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year.
Sustainability is all about making connections and intervening in complex systems. We have forged many meaningful connections and collaborative relationships at local, regional, and national levels. We support Sustainable Cleveland 2019 and participate in employee volunteer opportunities with several local sustainability non-profits. We are an ENERGY STAR Partner, a member of the US Green Building Council, the Department of Energy's Healthcare Energy Alliance and Practice Greenhealth.