{
  "abstract": "Introduction: The health sector is a major contributor to climate change through greenhouse gas emissions. Telehealth, the delivery of healthcare services remotely through communication technologies is on the rise globally as evidenced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we express our opinion through a position statement of how telehealth can be effectively adopted for addressing climate change mitigation using a systems thinking approach.\n\nMethods: We conducted a narrative review of the literature and an online modified Delphi method among the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) Telehealth Working Group members to develop a set of themes for an evidenced based position statement on the adoption of telehealth for climate change.\n\nResults: Telehealth has demonstrated success in providing effective healthcare services through teleconsulting and remote monitoring. It has also shown to help reduce carbon dioxide equivalent gas emissions due to reduced travel since it required fewer in-person visits. At the same time, large energy consumption for complex devices and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) based data processing applications, e-waste generation from device lifecycle, the potentially negative impact on the quality of care provided with resultant increase in health system encounters undermine the benefits of telehealth. Equity, privacy and security issues are other challenges that need to be considered.\n\nConclusions: It is possible to integrate telehealth as an integral component of climate change mitigation efforts through a systems thinking approach. The services should be resilient to climate change events, and support mitigation efforts through promotion, prevention, monitoring, management and governance activities. More research is needed to substantiate and investigate this model of healthcare.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "International Institute of Health Management Research Delhi India",
    "Society for Administration of Telemedicine and Healthcare Informatics New Delhi India",
    "Health Information Unit, Ministry of Health Colombo Sri Lanka",
    "Office of Research Services, MacEwan University Edmonton Alberta Canada",
    "Medical Research Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya Chennai India",
    "Bioethics Centre, University of Otago (Otakou Whakaihu Waka) Aotearoa New Zealand",
    "Paula Souza State Center for Technological Education São Paulo Brazil",
    "Provincial Department of Health Services - North-Western Province Sri Lanka",
    "School of Population Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New South Wales Sydney Australia",
    "Medicina Interna e Saúde Digital Recife Pernambuco Brazil",
    "Department of Emergency Medicine, The University of British Colombia Canada",
    "School of Management, Massey University New Zealand",
    "University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix USA",
    "School of Health Sciences, University of Canterbury New Zealand"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 14,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Anandhi Ramachandran"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Shashi Gogia"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Gumindu Kulatunga"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Craig Kuziemsky"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Sheila John"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Tania Moerenhout"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Marcia Ito"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Prasad Ranatunga"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        8
      ],
      "name": "Usman Iqbal"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9
      ],
      "name": "Kleber Arajuo"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        10
      ],
      "name": "Ho Kendall"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        11
      ],
      "name": "Inga Hunter"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        12
      ],
      "name": "Sriram Iyengar"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        13
      ],
      "name": "Arindam Basu"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8hz5wt0117ydt.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1055/s-0046-1816597",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13730724/",
  "id": "8hz5wt0117ydt",
  "issns": [
    "0943-4747",
    "2364-0502"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0046-1816597",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Special Section: Digital Health and Climate Change"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Working Group Contributions"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2739|Telemedicine and Telehealth Implementation"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7225204763",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": "PMC13730724",
  "pmid": "42976787",
  "published": "2026-11-03",
  "publisher": "Thieme Medical Publishers",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8hz5wt0117ydt.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-07T12:23:13Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13730724",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0046-1816597"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2739|Telemedicine and Telehealth Implementation",
      "subfield": "epidemiology-public-health"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Telehealth for Addressing Climate Change: A Position Statement",
  "title_text": "Telehealth for Addressing Climate Change: A Position Statement",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-07T12:23:13Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8hz5wt0117ydt",
  "venue": "Yearbook of Medical Informatics",
  "versions": []
}