Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 May;50(5):731-745.
doi: 10.1007/s00134-023-07307-1. Epub 2024 Feb 28.

The carbon footprint of critical care: a systematic review

Melany Gaetani  1   2   3   4 , Elizabeth Uleryk  5 , Camilla Halgren  2 , Christina Maratta  6   7   8   9
Affiliations

The carbon footprint of critical care: a systematic review

Melany Gaetani et al. Intensive Care Med. 2024 May.

Abstract

Purpose: The provision of healthcare is a substantial global contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Several medical specialties and national health systems have begun evaluating their carbon emission contributions. The aim of this review is to summarise and describe the carbon footprint resulting from the provision of adult, paediatric and neonatal critical care.

Methods: A systematic search of Embase, Cochrane and Web of Science was performed in January 2023. Studies reporting any assessment of the carbon footprint of critical care were included. No language restrictions were applied. GHG emissions from life cycle assessments (LCA) were reported, in addition to waste, electricity and water use. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guideline was followed.

Results: In total, 13 studies assessing and describing the environmental impact of 36 adult or paediatric intensive care units (ICUs) were included. Two studies described full LCAs, seven reported waste only, two provided audits of unused medical supplies, one reported electricity use, and one study described a Material Flow Analysis. The estimated carbon emissions from critical care range between 88 kg CO2e/patient/day and 178 kg CO2e/patient/day. The two predominant sources of carbon emissions in critical care originate from electricity and gas use, as well as consumables. Waste production ranged from 1.1 to 13.7 kg/patient/day in the 6 studies where mean waste could be calculated.

Conclusion: There is a significant carbon footprint that results from intensive care provision. Consumables and waste constitute important, measurable, and modifiable components of anthropogenic emissions. There remains uncertainty due to a lack of literature, several unstudied areas of carbon emissions from critical care units, and within measured areas, measurement and reporting of carbon emissions are inconsistent.

Keywords: Carbon footprint; Critical care; Environment; Greenhouse gas emissions; Intensive care.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Who WHO (2021) Climate change and health. WHO, World Health Organization
    1. NASA. Last updated June 3, 2010. Global Warming. NASA Earth Observatory. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/GlobalWarming
    1. Atwoli L, Baqui AH, Benfield T, Bosurgi R, Godlee F, Hancocks S, Horton R, Laybourn-Langton L, Monteiro CA, Norman I, Patrick K, Praities N, Olde Rikkert MGM, Rubin EJ, Sahni P, Smith R, Talley N, Turale S, Vázquez D (2021) Call for emergency action to limit global temperature increases, restore biodiversity, and protect health. N Engl J Med 385:1134–1137 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Rocque RJ, Beaudoin C, Ndjaboue R, Cameron L, Poirier-Bergeron L, Poulin-Rheault R-A, Fallon C, Tricco AC, Witteman HO (2021) Health effects of climate change: an overview of systematic reviews. BMJ Open 11:e046333 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Romanello M, McGushin A, Di Napoli C, Drummond P, Hughes N, Jamart L, Kennard H, Lampard P, Rodriguez BS, Arnell N (2021) The 2021 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: code red for a healthy future. The Lancet 398:1619–1662 - DOI

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources