In the setting of climate change there is growing interest in the financial and environmental costs of healthcare itself. The perioperative milieu and the ICU are carbon (and waste!) hotspots in healthcare. Anaesthetists in particular, have led efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of our workplace, yet there is much still to learn about the environmental footprint of our daily practice. Further, undertaking life cycle assessments (LCAs) is laborious. We require a library that contains the basic features (composition, mass, country of origin) of several hundred common devices. With the assistance of the newly formed University of Melbourne Healthcare Carbon Lab team we aim to do so!
Through such a library data interested clinicians et al will be able to: approximate the carbon footprint of their daily practice and that of the healthcare institution, and more promptly undertake further LCAs of products and care pathways without the requirement to undertake such efforts de novo. Engineering data about indoor (operating theatres) energy use will also be of benefit. As we have repeatedly found, our prior LCA work has led to other related studies with financial and environmental benefits and fruitful collaborations with clinicians and engineers.
Associate Professor Forbes McGain, University of Melbourne.
The project was awarded A$98,899 funding through the ANZCA research grants program for 2025.