Environmental Performance Benchmarking Across Healthcare Sub-Sectors:    A Comparative Analysis of Emissions, Energy, Water, and Waste Footprints

Surinder Deswal¹, Phalguni Deswal²

¹ Professor, Civil Engineering Department, National Institute of Technology Kurukshetra, India.

² Independent Researcher, India. 

Abstract

The healthcare sector accounts for approximately 4.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet comparative analyses of environmental performance across its distinct sub-sectors remain scarce. This paper presents the first comprehensive comparative descriptive and exploratory statistical analysis of environmental performance across five healthcare sub-sector groupings—Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Companies, Medical Equipment & Supplies Companies, Health Care Providers & Services Companies, Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology and Medical Equipment & Supplies Companies (mixed), and Biotech/Innovator Pharma Companies—using data from eight leading companies (Pfizer, Regeneron, Siemens Healthineers, Philips, Smith+Nephew, CVS Health, Johnson & Johnson, and BioNTech) over the 2019–2025 period. Key findings reveal that Health Care Providers & Services exhibit the lowest emission intensities across all scopes (2025 total intensity: 66.9 t.CO₂e ⁄ million USD revenue) while generating the highest absolute Scope 3 emissions, driven by extensive supply chains. Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology companies demonstrate the highest Scope 3 emission intensities (Pfizer: 54.5 t.CO₂e ⁄ million USD revenue in 2025), with Scope 3 constituting 80–90% of total emissions across most sub-sectors. Energy transition trajectories vary markedly: Biotech/Innovator Pharma showed the most dramatic renewable energy adoption (from 7.1% in 2019 to 75.2% in 2025), while Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology lagged significantly (from 9.5% to 68.7%). Water withdrawal and waste generation intensities reveal that Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology companies are the most resource-intensive (Pfizer: 0.43 thousand m³ ⁄ million USD water intensity; 1.77 tons ⁄ million USD waste intensity in 2025), whereas Health Care Providers & Services exhibit the lowest intensities (CVS Health: 0.016 thousand m³ ⁄ million USD ; 0.011 tons ⁄ million USD). These findings establish benchmark environmental performance profiles for healthcare sub-sectors, providing empirically grounded references for future research, policy development, and corporate sustainability target-setting aligned with the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals.    

Keywords: Healthcare sub-sectors, Environmental performance, GHG emissions intensity, Resource intensity, Scope 3 emissions, sustainability benchmarking, SDGs

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