Climate Change Advocacy and Cancer Clinical Trial Organisations

Abstract

Climate change is a threat to human health; equally health care is a threat to climate change as it accounts for 4% of greenhouse gas emissions and 30% of the world’s electronically stored data. 350,000 international trials are registered on ClinicalTrials.gov with ~ 27·5 million tonnes of emissions (equivalent to half of annual Danish emissions). In September 2023 we assessed climate awareness among cancer clinical trial organisations via a web-based scoping exercise. Seventy-five organisations were identified of whom 46 had search tools on their websites. Eight out of 46 clinical trial groups had at least one parameter of commitment to climate change, and 38 organisations had none. Of 46 websites, 5 had climate change position statements or policies, 4 had a committee or task force, 1 provided patient education resources for climate change via video link, 7 included green initiative advice and 8 had publications addressing climate change. Only 5 were listed as members of Climate Change Consortiums. Based on website assessment climate advocacy among cancer clinical trial organisations is low, and efforts to encourage climate engagement are needed.