Reframing Resource Stewardship and Sustainability as Professionalism: What Can Efforts for a Net-Zero Health System Learn from Choosing Wisely Campaigns?

Miller and Xie (2020) issue a compelling and wide-ranging call to action for how healthcare systems, leaders and decision makers can and should mobilize to address the climate crisis. Issues of sustainability and the climate crisis are complex, wicked problems with no simple solutions. Sustainability considerations and the imperative to use healthcare system resources wisely are a motivator of the Choosing Wisely Canada campaign. These considerations are increasingly urgent in the context of fiscal and resource deficits due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The experience of Choosing Wisely campaigns can offer potential strategies for driving increased awareness and action from healthcare stakeholders on the climate crisis. This commentary explores some of the factors that have contributed to the spread of Choosing Wisely campaigns and the levers that have fostered campaign uptake. It will also consider the challenges faced by, and lessons learned, from Choosing Wisely campaigns, and how these could inform healthcare systems and individual clinicians in increasing awareness and taking leadership on the climate crisis.