IHH Healthcare closes out 2025 sustainability goals and raises the bar for 2030

[SINGAPORE] Doctors from IHH Healthcare led the group’s biggest emissions win. The group’s anaesthetists cut desflurane-related emissions by 44 per cent since 2022, moving away from a high-impact anaesthetic gas.

“We didn’t mandate a ban on it, as some of our clinicians still needed it for a small subset of patients,” said Yasemin Tecmen Stubbe, IHH’s group chief sustainability officer. “Management worked closely with clinicians to actively lower desflurane use across our markets, and it was encouraging to see our clinicians embrace the evidence and example set by England’s NHS in 2024.”

IHH which clinched the Impact Enterprise Excellence Award (Large Enterprise), set 16 sustainability goals in 2022, when the group had no prior emissions baseline or facility-level data, no small feat across 10 countries. By 2025, it had hit 14 of them, including capping Scope 1 and 2 emissions at 2022 levels despite growth, cutting single-use plastics by more than 90 per cent in non-clinical areas across Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey and Hong Kong, and rolling out antimicrobial resistance protocols across 100 per cent of its hospitals. Two goals fell short. IHH is now carrying a fuller set into 2030.

That progress includes rooftop solar at 13 of 18 Malaysian hospitals, generating 3,800 MWh a year, and wind power meeting 96 per cent of electricity needs at its Chennai and Kengeri hospitals in India.

Delivery of goals

“Initiatives, sustainability-related or otherwise, rarely come with certainty. Some take longer than expected, while others achieve more than initially anticipated,” Stubbe said. “What matters is that we continue to act, learn and improve. The successful delivery of 14 of our 16 goals in 2025 reflects that discipline, and provides a strong foundation for achieving our 2030 targets.” IHH targeted 90 per cent accuracy on the cost estimates it gives patients before treatment. Malaysia, Singapore and Turkey hit the mark, but India had not rolled out the tracking system, missing the overall target. Separately, IHH wanted every accident and emergency (A&E) patient admitted to a ward within an hour of a doctor’s instruction. It reached 74.6 per cent, up from a 54.6 per cent baseline, short of the 100 per cent target. For 2030 goals, billing accuracy remains standalone but now measured at market level instead of one group-wide number.

The A&E goal is folded into a broader push on patient flow and bed management, alongside a new commitment to flag critical inpatient lab results within 10 minutes of verification.

On emissions, IHH is aiming to cut Scope 1 and 2 by 42 per cent from 2025 levels, and to get 70 per cent of its suppliers, by spend, reporting and setting their own targets. It wants to lift its non-hazardous waste recycling rate to 30 per cent and cut water intensity by up to 10 per cent.

On staffing, it’s holding a 50:50 gender ratio in leadership and staying above global benchmarks on engagement.

IHH is growing and its targets are too. Acıbadem, its Turkish subsidiary, acquired an 80 per cent stake in Bayindir Healthcare Group in August 2025, and IHH has also expanded its reporting boundary to include Fortis Healthcare’s operations in India. The 42 per cent emissions target already includes Fortis, and IHH says Bayindir’s numbers will be folded in as integration proceeds, with the target reassessed once that’s done.

SEE ALSO

Berge Bulk charts a path towards more sustainable shipping

DP Architects sets the benchmark for sustainability disclosure and design

SaladStop! bets on practical steps to reach net zero as sustainability loses its buzzword appeal 

Entrepreneur Susan Chong is growing the farms of the future

‘Retrofit-first’: Stolz Engineering optimises old cooling towers with sensor, AI-powered platform for energy savings

Lendlease delivers on both its 2020 climate and social pledges

Bright skies ahead for Clean Kinetics’ global growth

Unravel Carbon’s agentic AI platform accelerates firms towards net-zero goals

UOL sees sustainability as long-term business commitment, not compliance exercise as industry faces climate risks

Three hats, one goal: How Ng Kian Swan runs sustainability at NUHS

Asean’s energy transition must move from ambition to delivery

From initiative to impact: Driving tangible change in corporate sustainability

More

For IHH, sustainability isn’t just talk. Climate-related targets will rise from 5 per cent to 12.5 per cent of non-financial key performance indicators across its balanced scorecard in 2026, applying to staff at every level, not just the C-suite. The more significant consideration, Stubbe said, is the accountability that comes with publicly committing to, and reporting on, these goals.