Influence of COVID-19 on the 10-year carbon footprint of the Nagoya University Hospital and medical research centre

Abstract

Background: Amidst the climate crisis, a key goal of the medical sector is to reduce its large carbon footprint. Although the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic greatly impacted the medical sector, its influence on carbon footprints remains unknown. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate changes in the carbon footprint of a university hospital with a medical research centre over the past 10 years. Methods: Data on electricity, gas, and water usage, pharmaceutical and medical supply costs, and waste amounts were recorded for Nagoya University Hospital from April 2010 to March 2021. The relevant emission factors were obtained from the Japanese government and the overall monthly carbon footprint was reported according to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the carbon footprint was then compared for three types of emission sources. Moreover, a regression model was used to plot quadratic functions as approximate functions using monthly carbon emissions and monthly average external temperatures. Finally, the monthly carbon footprint was calculated per hospital admission. Results: The overall carbon footprint of the hospital was 73,546 tCO2e in 2020, revealing an increase of 26.60% over the last 10 years. Carbon emissions from electricity consumption represented 26% of total emissions. The individual carbon footprints of pharmaceuticals, medical supplies, waste, and water usage also increased from 2010 to 2020. The overall monthly carbon footprint was positively correlated with the average monthly temperature (R2 = 0.7566, p < 0.001). Compared with 2019, the overall carbon footprint decreased by 2.19% in 2020. Moreover, the monthly carbon footprint per hospital admission increased significantly between 2018 (0.24 tCO2e/admission) and 2020 (0.26 tCO2e/admission) (p = 0.002). Conclusion: The overall carbon footprint of the hospital generally increased over the last decade. During the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020, the carbon footprint decreased slightly, likely because of the reduced number of patients. However, the carbon footprint per admission increased, which was attributed to more complicated patient backgrounds because of the ageing population. Therefore, evaluation of carbon emissions in the medical sector is urgently required in order to act on the climate crisis as soon as possible.

Application of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) and the ISO 14064-1: 2006 standard for the estimation of the carbon footprint at the National University of Jaen in 2021

“…During the COVID-19 epidemic in 2021, the carbon footprint decreased slightly (January-August), probably due to the reduction in the number of workers performing faceto-face work. The results support the findings of Moroka and Raya, who indicated that the cofinancing measures imposed to reduce the impact of the pandemic had shown a considerable reduction in carbon emissions [18,19].…”

Exploring Household Food Waste Reduction for Carbon Footprint Mitigation: A Case Study in Shanghai, China

“…Carbon footprint is typically expressed in terms of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO 2 e), which is a unit that converts the emissions of various greenhouse gases into the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide [35,36]. This conversion allows for a standardized and comparable representation of the overall impact of different greenhouse gases on climate change.…”