On Wednesday, the 28th of May, Nicole Hunfeld (Principal Investigator ESCH-R) presented about: “The Green ICU: How can we make impact together?”. 

Intensive Care Units (ICU) are among the largest polluters within Dutch hospitals. According to the 2023 Lancet Countdown report on health and climate change, the healthcare sector in the Netherlands is responsible for 7% of national CO₂ emissions – with ICU’s being the second largest emitters within hospitals. The Operating Rooms (OR) come in first place, as being the biggest emitters.

In 2021, Nicole, together with Ise Lau, A. Burdorf, Simone Hesseling, Louise Wijk, Martin Tauber, calculated the carbon footprint of the Erasmus MC. Nicole: “In total, the hospital’s carbon footprint amounts to 200,000 kilotons of CO₂ equivalents per year, with approximately 60% attributed to Scope 3 emissions. A closer analysis of this Scope 3 reveals that 42% is related to medication. While this may be striking, it is not entirely unexpected for a large academic hospital.” Scope 1, which includes the building’s heating and cooling systems, accounts for only 4.5% of the total footprint. Scope 2, which covers electricity usage and certain forms of transportation, represents approximately 20%.

Nicole highlighted various concrete sustainability measures: “ICU patients generate an average of 17 kg of products per day, this also results in 7 bags of waste per patient per day. This equals 12 kg of CO₂ emissions. To produce all the products, 4 square meters of landfill is needed and 300 liters of water.”

Nicole, JC Diehl and M. Timmermann calculated the amount of product used per patient per day, with a material flow analysis, which was used as a starting point for the discussions with the healthcare professionals in the ICU. Nicole: “They were really shocked when we showed them that they use 108 gloves per patient per day. And also a lot of compressors, liquid bags, medication, each with their own packaging, syringes with their own packaging, tubes and connectors.”