Lhe decarbonization of the health sector, which represents 8% of France’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to estimates by the Shift Project think tank, constitutes a major challenge for the ecological transition. The carbon footprint of the Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), which brings together 38 hospitals and welcomes more than 8 million people per year, is clear: in 2022, the AP-HP was responsible for emission of almost 2 million tonnes of CO equivalent2 (CO2e) per year. Healthcare, including medicines, medical devices, laboratories and imaging, represents 58% of these emissions. In comparison, energy and waste represent only 7% and less than 1% respectively.
Thus, three days of hospitalization correspond to approximately 1 ton of CO2e. An alarming figure if we wish to remain below the 1.5°C objective of the Paris Agreement: achieving carbon neutrality on a global scale requires respecting an “envelope” of emissions 2 tonnes of CO2e per French person and per year. Healthcare teams therefore have a major role to play.
To face this imperative, numerous initiatives are being put in place, such as reducing the use of the most polluting anesthetic gases (stopping desflurane and limiting nitrous oxide), the practice of eco-care, the evaluation specifies carbon emissions linked to care (Carebone tool developed at AP-HP), work on single use as opposed to sterilization of medical devices, and the creation of groups focused on ecological transition in different medical learned societies , including internal medicine.
Too many medications
All these actions are necessary, but the simplest and most effective lever for action is very probably the sobriety of prescriptions in the broad sense. Indeed, treatments and biological examinations, through laboratory consumables, are the two largest items in this AP-HP carbon footprint.
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