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Commentary
A green evidence base to drive environmentally sustainable practice
  1. Alexander Robertson1,2
  1. 1 Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, Emergency Department, NHS Lothian, Edinburgh, UK
  2. 2 The Royal College of Emergency Medicine, London, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Alexander Robertson, Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, Emergency Department, NHS Lothian, Edinburgh, EH16 4TJ, UK; ace.robertson{at}gmail.com

https://doi.org/10.1136/emermed-2023-213432

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    Worldwide, the healthcare sector is responsible for approximately 4.4% of the global carbon footprint.1 As a healthcare system we need to reduce our environmental footprint, along with the rest of society, to ensure a safe and liveable future. This must be done in an evidence-based way, to ensure that any changes we make in our practice do really reduce our environmental impact rather than working on a best guess. We need to build a body of evidence on the environmental impact of our practice so we, with our patients, can make informed decisions.

    According to NHS England, the UK’s healthcare system is responsible for 4% of the England’s carbon footprint,2 although some estimates are as high as 7%.3 There is limited literature looking at both what the environmental footprint of emergency …

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    Footnotes

    • Handling editor Ellen J Weber

    • Twitter @EMDrSandy

    • Contributors AR was the only contributor.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests The author is the co-clinical lead of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s GreenED programme.

    • Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.

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