Introduction

This article is part of a blog series related to the Global and Sustainable Health (GOSH) project, funded by the Finnish National Agency for Education (TFK). The project has involved collaboration between four universities of applied sciences: Turku UAS, JAMK, Singapore Institute of Technology: University of Applied Sciences, and Savonia UAS. Together, they have developed a 5-credit study module titled Global and Sustainable Health. The course explores its main themes from the perspective of rehabilitation. It included an intensive week, which in autumn 2025 was held in Singapore. The blog articles describe students’ learning experiences, perspectives, and reflections during the intensive week.

The intensive week of Global and Sustainable Health courses at Singapore Institute of Technology offered inspiring seminars, discussions, and cultural experiences. Similar international study opportunities have been available before the GOSH project. Last year, some students explored the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other relevant topics during a summer school at Hanze University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands (Pitkänen et al. 2024).

Sustainability and health

This time the focus was on global and sustainable health. There are different viewpoints concerning sustainability and health. At first, we need to define what we mean by sustainability. Generally, sustainability is understood as a matter of relative environmental impact (Andersen et al 2025). The United Nations Brundtland Commission has defined in 1987 sustainability as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (UN 1987). In addition to environmental, sustainability has also social and economic aspects (Anderssen 2025). And all the three different aspects of sustainability have confluences to health.

It’s not an easy task to assess the sustainability of a public health policy or intervention. For example, by promoting healthy lifestyle like eating vegetable-based food, we can assume that environmental impact of food production is lower compared to eating meat-based food, which makes it win-win policy for both public health and the environment. But when we think it with longer period of time, things turn more complicated. We can assume, that with healthier diet people are living longer and consuming more environmental resources during their lifecycle. (Anderssen et al 2025). Harshly said, the longer we live, the more harm we cause to our environment, so sarcastically any health promotion act can’t be seen sustainable.

Of course, the relationship between health and sustainability is not that straightforward. Striving for sustainability is all about compromises and trying to find the least harmful options for the environment. And sometimes it is possible to find solutions beneficial for both people and the environment. For example, building bicycle lanes instead of widening streets for cars can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote public health by increasing physical activity in forms of bicycling (Anderssen et al 2025).

Digitalisation as a part of sustainable health

It’s easy to think, that heading to digital services means automatically heading to green and sustainable services. But that’s not automatically the case. It’s true, that digital services have potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions especially related to traffic, by enabling remote work and virtual communication (Balthasar 2025). Digital services can also increase social and economic sustainability and promote equality among service users particularly in sparsely populated areas.

But the digital technologies have also increased effect to global greenhouse gas emissions: the rise of AI has surged the demand for computing power and increased electricity consumption in digital industry. For example, one ChatGPT search requires 50 to 90 times more energy than regular Google search even though it’s not seen on consumer’s households. All this energy consumption is seen in huge datacentres, where also millions of litres of water is needed to cool down the processors. (European Climate Pact 2025.)

What can be done to promote sustainability?

Every action has an impact to the environment and those can be local, regional or global. That’s why we need to think carefully our decisions before turning to actions. There are no easy or simple solutions when concerning sustainability and health, but there are lots of small things that every one can do. For example, we can reduce the impacts of digital technology by optimising devise usage (no need for the newest models every year – remember to recycle old devices), reducing unnecessary digital storage, adjusting streaming habits and using energy efficient settings (European Climate Pact 2025). We can also compensate building and land usage by adding vegetation to the roofs and balconies, like they have done in Singapore (Picture 1), which also promotes the health of the inhabitants.

Above all, we can always try to find the least harmful option for health and the environment.

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Authors:

Minna Rutanen, physiotherapist, Master’s Degree Programme in Multidisciplinary Rehabilitation -student, Savonia University of Applied Sciences, Kuopio, Finland

Marja Äijö, PT, PhD Principal Lecturer of gerontology and rehabilitation, Savonia, University of Applied Sciences, Kuopio, Finland.

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References:

Andersen, M. M., Hauschild, M. Z., & Lauridsen, S. 2025. Is Public Health Environmentally Sustainable? Health care analysis : HCA : journal of health philosophy and policy, 33(2), 97–108. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10728-025-00511-8 Referred 8.11.2025.

Balthasar, N., Ohnmacht, T., Z’Rotz, J., Hostettler Macias, L., & Rérat, P. 2025. The effects of teleworking on CO2 emissions from commuting: baselining key data to investigate transformative change in living labs. Consumption and Society, 4(3), 357-379. https://doi.org/10.1332/27528499Y2024D000000019 Referred 9.11.2025.

European Climate Pact. 2025. Going digital – good or bad for the climate? Directorate-General for Climate Action. https://climate-pact.europa.eu/articles-and-events/pact-articles/going-digital-good-or-bad-climate-2025-02-19_en Referred 9.11.2025.

Pitkänen M, Rutanen M, Uusitalo M.M, Äijö M. 2024. Experiences from the summer school in Netherland. Savonia Pro Article. Published: 16.8.2024. In available: Experiences from the summer school in Netherland – Savonia AMK

United Nations. 1987. Our Common Future. Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development. https://gat04-live-1517c8a4486c41609369c68f30c8-aa81074.divio-media.org/filer_public/6f/85/6f854236-56ab-4b42-810f-606d215c0499/cd_9127_extract_from_our_common_future_brundtland_report_1987_foreword_chpt_2.pdf Referred 7.11.2025.