• Peter Sainsbury, Kate Charlesworth, Lynne Madden, Anthony Capon, Greg Stewart, and David Pencheon.
• School of Medicine, Sydney, The University of Notre Dame Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
• Intern Med J. 2019 Aug 1; 49 (8): 1044-1048.

AbstractThe visit to Australia by Dr David Pencheon, Founding Director of the National Health Service (NHS) Sustainable Development Unit, in April-May 2018 generated considerable interest and engagement. Dr Pencheon's overarching messages were that climate change is a health issue and that doctors and health systems have an opportunity, and responsibility, to lead climate action. This article distils Dr Pencheon's presentations into three themes: (i) carbon accounting; (ii) transformational change in our systems of healthcare; and (iii) a health system fit for the future. For each theme, we highlight promising initiatives that are already underway in Australia that are starting to transform our health system into one fit for a future environmentally sustainable world. We suggest practical ways in which doctors can lead the transformation through personal action and influence broader systems.© 2019 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

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