Carbon emission trends and sustainability options in Austrian health care

•Austria’s health carbon footprint was 6.8 million tons of CO2 in 2014.•Austria’s health carbon footprint declined by 14% between 2005 and 2014.•A large contribution to Austria’s health carbon footprint is from goods purchased by hospitals.•CO2 emissions from induced travel increased 15% between 2005 and 2015.•We propose six concrete steps for sustainable health care.