Climate crisis

There is no doubt that our global environment is changing at an alarming rate. The scientific community has issued serious warnings.
For them, climate change is a threat to the future of humanity.

For MSF, humanity is our priority. But its survival is linked to that of its environment.

Our teams, direct witnesses of climate change

Displaced people, drought, malnutrition, conflict and even malaria, today we are already witnessing the effects of climate change:

• When there is very little water, it is impossible to grow crops and therefore produce food.
• When the climate warms and the rain cycle changes, insects like mosquitoes – which carry diseases like malaria and dengue fever – breed faster and survive in places where they were not before, exposing more people to these deadly diseases.
• When resources are scarce, these shortages become sources of conflict. And conflict forces people to travel.
• When natural disasters like cyclones or floods occur, they cause trauma, injuries, deaths and diseases like cholera.

Our roadmap to reduce our carbon footprint

Lorsque des catastrophes naturelles, des conflits ou des épidémies se déclarent, MSF réagit rapidement pour fournir des soins médicaux d'urgence à des milliers de personnes dans le besoin. Les défis sont immenses pour amener rapidement du personnel médical, des médicaments et des fournitures dans des endroits difficiles d'accès. Cela, nécessite également beaucoup d'énergie, tant pour le transport que pour le fonctionnement de nos opérations, ce qui contribue au changement climatique.

When natural disasters, conflicts or epidemics strike, MSF responds quickly to provide emergency medical care to thousands of people in need. The challenges are immense in getting medical staff, medicines and supplies to hard-to-reach places quickly. It also requires a lot of energy, both for transport and to run our operations, which contributes to climate change.

As physicians, our mission is to improve people's health, not harm them.

So we have decided to halve our carbon emissions by 2030.

We have defined a clear action plan to halve our CO2 emissions by focusing on four main areas:

• Transportation: Reducing the use of airplanes to transport our teams, medicines and equipment wherever possible, using more fuel-efficient vehicles and storing critical supplies in strategic locations around the world.
• Energy: Better insulating our pharmacies, health centres and warehouses and using renewable energy sources.
• Procurement: Buying materials and supplies locally and partnering with suppliers committed to reducing their emissions.
• Behavioural change: Working with our staff to use less energy, reduce waste, recycle as much as possible and changing our organisational culture to reflect these goals.

We are adapting our operations to reduce our environmental footprint. This will not always be easy due to the size of our organization and the nature of our activities, but we are determined to achieve it.

Saving lives will always be our priority.

Humanity is in a race against time to keep the world a safe and habitable place.

We are all concerned.