Estimating the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of Australian ambulance services

Brown, Lawrence H.; Buettner, Petra G.; Canyon, Deon; Crawford, John; Judd, Jenni

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.06.020

Cited by 23 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 38 publications

(40 reference statements)

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“…The health care sector could also reduce carbon emissions that occur in the global production chain of medical goods and pharmaceuticals by applying green procurement strategies. Expenditures could be reallocated to less carbon intensive forms of health care provision by changing medical procedures [34][35][36][37], or by using functionally equivalent drugs and medical devices with lower carbon intensity of production and packaging [38][39][40][41].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

International comparison of health care carbon footprints

Pichler

Jaccard

Weisz

et al. 2019

Environ. Res. Lett.

427

238

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Climate change confronts the health care sector with a dual challenge. Accumulating climate impacts are putting an increased burden on the service provision of already stressed health care systems in many regions of the world. At the same time, the Paris agreement requires rapid emission reductions in all sectors of the global economy to stay well below the 2°C target. This study shows that in OECD countries, China, and India, health care on average accounts for 5% of the national CO 2 footprint making the sector comparable in importance to the food sector. Some countries have seen reduced CO 2 emissions related to health care despite growing expenditures since 2000, mirroring their economy wide emission trends. The average per capita health carbon footprint across the country sample in 2014 was 0.6 tCO 2 , varying between 1.51 tCO 2 /cap in the US and 0.06 tCO 2 /cap in India. A statistical analysis shows that the carbon intensity of the domestic energy system, the energy intensity of the domestic economy, and health care expenditure together explain half of the variance in per capita health carbon footprints. Our results indicate that important leverage points exist inside and outside the health sector. We discuss our findings in the context of the existing literature on the potentials and challenges of reducing GHG emissions in the health and energy sector.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

International comparison of health care carbon footprints

Pichler

Jaccard

Weisz

et al. 2019

Environ. Res. Lett.

427

238

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…In addition, extant research suggests there is a growing need for hospitals and others involved in the medical supplies value chain to take the first steps towards environmental sustainability. In particular, there are calls for more ecologically sustainable operations (Brown, Buettner, Canyon, Crawford, & Judd, 2012;S. R. Unger, Campion, Bilec, & Landis, 2016), service provision, design and procurement (Campion et al, 2015;Moultrie, Sutcliffe, & Maier, 2015;Stripple, Westman, & Holm, 2008;Xin, 2015).…”

Section: The Case and Scenarios Consideredmentioning

confidence: 99%

How supply chain choices affect the life cycle impacts of medical products

Gabriel

Bortsie-Aryee

Apparicio-Farrell

et al. 2018

Journal of Cleaner Production

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The natural resource based view (NRBV) of organisations suggests that there are two main models used by businesses to achieve short-term sustainability outcomes. They are the product stewardship and pollution prevention models. Here is the case of a New York-based wholesaler of medical supplies. The business aims to develop a more environmentally sustainable supply chain for one of its products -an emesis basin. The emesis basin is currently only offered in high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic, which has negative effects on the natural environment. This study aimed to assess how the focus of the business' new business model might affect the overall life cycle impacts of this product. To achieve this, we compared the environmental impacts of the conventional product (Scenario 1-an HDPE basin) with equivalent products supplied via pollution prevention (Scenario 2 -a bioplastic basin) and product stewardship (Scenario 3 -green supply chain management and improvements) scenarios, as well as a combination scenario (Scenario 4). The results show that, in line with expectations, the pollution prevention option -switching to a bioplastic product -has the lowest environmental impacts. Unexpectedly though, the product stewardship option had a greater impact on the natural environment than the conventional HDPE, business-as-usual option. We suggest there may greater environmental gains to be obtained by focusing on one's core business, than by extending influence to the entire supply chain. KEYWORDSNatural resource-based view (NRBV); Life Cycle Assessment (LCA); sustainable supply chains; medical supply sector HIGHLIGHTS  Four scenarios comparing conventional and bio-plastics considered  Bioplastic product has lowest environmental impact (pollution prevention scenario)  Supply chain changes (product stewardship) have higher impact due to transport fuels  There are benefits to focusing on core business over supply chain integration  We support deeper inclusion of medical supply industry in sustainability discussion Word Count: 8,082ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 2

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“…Estimating the carbon emissions of Australian ambulance services, Brown et al (2012) use a combination of ambulance data and Environmental Input-output life-cycle assessment (EIOLCA) models, and find that Scope 3 accounts for 58% of total carbon emissions in that industry. Looking at the largest research institute in Mexico, Güereca et al (2013) find that the fraction of Scope 3 is 53% of their total carbon emissions.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The state of supply chain carbon footprinting: analysis of CDP disclosures by US firms

Blanco

Caro

Corbett

2016

Journal of Cleaner Production

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Although collaboration and performance measurement are widely recognized as critical for increasing sustainability in supply chains, little is known about how comprehensively firms are currently measuring their supply chain carbon emissions (or Scope 3). We develop a way to assess how complete firms' reports of Scope 3 emissions are, by comparing them to benchmarks based on Environmental Input-Output Life-Cycle Assessment models. We use this approach to evaluate Scope 3 carbon emissions disclosed by many of the largest firms in the United States to CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project). We estimate that, on average, these firms reported 22% of their full Scope 3 emissions in 2013. Our results show that Scope 3 reporting varies widely across industries. We highlight two firms that are able to capture a significant portion of their Scope 3 carbon emissions despite having a large number of suppliers. Although 1 firms are beginning to account for an increasing portion of their supply chain's carbon emissions, there is substantial room for improvement in their measurement and disclosure of Scope 3 emissions.

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Estimating the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of Australian ambulance services

Cited by 23 publications

References 38 publications

International comparison of health care carbon footprints

International comparison of health care carbon footprints

How supply chain choices affect the life cycle impacts of medical products

The state of supply chain carbon footprinting: analysis of CDP disclosures by US firms

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