Optometry Australia’s 2024-2027 Shared Strategic Plan and the 2024 Refreshing Optometry 2040 report both recognise the critical connection between climate change and eye health. With the evidence for climate change growing almost daily, Optometry Australia is committed to leading the sector towards a more sustainable future and alongside our colleagues at the Climate and Health Alliance, we agree that it is time for the healthcare sector, including the optometry profession, to show leadership and accelerate efforts to work towards mitigating the impact of climate change.
Download our position statement to learn more about Optometry Australia’s position.
To guide our work in this area, we partnered with Edge Consultancy to develop a Sustainability Roadmap: Optometry in Australia, which outlines a clear vision for addressing key environmental challenges, including waste reduction, carbon emissions and the promotion of eco-awareness among optometrists and patients alike. We continue to work with stakeholders to progress the key tenets of the Sustainability Roadmap, while recognising that it is our role to enable an engaged sector, through creating learning resources, publishing case studies of good practice and developing sustainability guidelines and templates optometrists can use in their daily practise.
Climate change affects every aspect of our society – including the businesses, supply chains and communities that make up our industry. Many of the challenges our industry faces are complex and systemic, which has pushed the optometry profession to show leadership and accelerate our efforts.
To support the initiatives already underway across the profession, optometrists can also actively change behaviours, choices and systems to make sure our communities stay resilient. Money is a powerful way to cast a ‘vote’ for the way we want our world to look.
As consumers get to know why sustainability is important, they’re looking to spend with ethically minded brands that can be clear and transparent about the action they’re taking on social and environmental sustainability. So it makes sense that redefining procurement should be a top sustainability priority for the optometry industry.
To support you to make these decisions in your practice, we have developed practical resources to help in identifying the most sustainable supplier. We hope these will guide you in determining which suppliers are already on board with this journey – so you can communicate it to your patients.
Get to know what sustainability looks like in optometry by downloading the quick guide:
Already across the details, just need to know what questions to ask? Download:
Optometry Australia recognises our role as sector leaders and will continue to advocate for initiatives which address waste and carbon emission ‘hotspots’ and raise awareness about the links between climate change, environmental sustainability and eye health. Through innovation, coupled with meaningful and effective collaboration, we believe that optometry can adapt, lead and accelerate efforts to mitigate the health impacts of climate change while reducing the profession’s environmental footprint.
If you have questions or need further information, please contact the Optometry Advancement team at policy@optometry.org.au.
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In the spirit of reconciliation Optometry Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.
