General practices are committed to providing high‑quality, patient‑centred care, and today, that means responding to the environmental and climate‑related challenges increasingly affecting the health of our communities.

Extreme heat, bushfire smoke, floods, storms and service disruptions are now part of the environment in which practices operate and deliver care.
The Standards for general practices (6th edition) formally embeds environmental sustainability and climate resilience across the quality and safety framework. The Standards recognise the important work that practices already undertake and provide practical guidance to strengthen preparedness, reduce environmental impact and support patient wellbeing.

Building climate‑resilient general practice

Climate resilience means ensuring the practice can continue providing safe, high‑quality care when local conditions change rapidly. The Standards support practices to identify climate‑related risks and to implement strategies that maintain continuity of care.

In practice, this includes:

• ensuring practices can operate safely during heatwaves or poor air‑quality events
• maintaining reliable systems for telehealth and remote access when travel becomes unsafe
• having backup power or alternative communication pathways
• planning for temporary relocation or flexible staffing arrangements during floods, storms or evacuations
• identifying and supporting patients who are particularly vulnerable to climate‑related health impacts.

These steps strengthen the practice’s ability to remain a stable and trusted source of care during disruptions.

Reducing environmental impact through everyday practice

Environmental sustainability supports patient wellbeing and strengthens long‑term practice viability. Many effective activities are simple, cost‑efficient and easy to embed. Practices across Australia are already:

• optimising heating, cooling and ventilation for both comfort and efficiency
• switching to LED lighting, timers and energy‑efficient appliances
• reducing waste and minimising unnecessary single‑use items
• moving to digital workflows, including e‑prescribing and digital patient information
• selecting lower‑carbon or more sustainable clinical products where clinically appropriate.

These improvements reduce resource use, cut operating costs and create a healthier setting for patients and staff.

Supporting sustainable and climate‑informed clinical care

The Standards also support clinicians to adopt environmentally sustainable and climate‑resilient clinical practices. This includes:

• accessing clinical guidance that incorporates sustainability principles
• preparing for presentations that are increasing due to climate change, such as heat stress, respiratory exacerbations and vector‑borne illnesses
• reducing unnecessary investigations or treatments
• integrating public‑health alerts related to heat, air quality, pollen, bushfire smoke or local disasters into routine care.

These approaches help clinicians provide safe, equitable and future‑focused care.

Creating a culture of sustainability and shared responsibility

Sustainability is most effective when it is embedded into everyday practice culture. The Standards encourage practices to:

• show clear leadership on environmental sustainability and climate resilience
• appoint a team member to coordinate sustainability actions
• engage the whole practice team in identifying opportunities and improvements
• support patients with practical information about climate‑related health risks
• integrate sustainability and climate resilience into business planning and quality improvement.

This builds shared commitment and supports long‑term change.

Start where you are

You do not need to be an environmental specialist to make your practice more sustainable or climate‑ready. Many practices are already taking meaningful steps, from updating emergency plans, reducing energy use, improving waste management or helping patients stay healthy during extreme weather.

The Standards support practical, achievable progress that strengthens your practice, supports your team and improves patient safety.

The RACGP continues to provide guidance, tools and resources to help every practice take the next step.