The UK government's sixth Carbon Budget set targets in law to reduce carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions down to net-zero by 2050. 1 The NHS is estimated to contribute 4% of the UK's total carbon footprint, 2 and a significant contributor to this is the practice of anaesthesia. Stereotypically, anaesthetists are seen as climate-conscious: many can be seen cycling to work and they proactively recycle in their anaesthetic rooms. It is pertinent that the effects of anaesthesia on the climate are recognised and solutions are found to promote more sustainable medical practice.
Volatile gasesInhalational agents, both halogenated anaesthetics (sevoflurane, isoflurane, desflurane) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O), are known 'greenhouse gases' (GHGs), i.e., gases that absorb and re-radiate infrared radiation (IR) emitted from the earth. The impact GHGs have on the climate is quantified by their global warming potential (GWP): GWP 100 is the total warming impact of a particular agent over 100 years in comparison to CO 2 . By definition, CO 2 has a GWP 100 of 1. The GWP 100 of volatile gases are significantly greater than that of natural CHGs, with a peak of 2540 for desflurane (Table 1). 3
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