Carbon footprint of a chemotherapy production unit within a hospital pharmacy: Time for green pharmacy

Abstract

Background

In the last decade, environmental impact assessment has become a major concern for human activities, which is particularly true for health. The french healthcare sector emits approximately 49 million tons of CO₂ equivalent (CO₂eq) per year, approximately 8% of the total national Green House Gas (GHG) emissions. In this context, assessing the carbon footprint of a resource-consuming unit like the cytotoxic drug production unit (CPU) is essential. The study aimed to assess the carbon footprint of a CPU.

Methods

A retrospective study was conducted in a french CPU producing more than 51,000 preparations per year in 2022. Global warming impact of CO₂eq emissions were determined for medicines (using the French monetary Emission Factor), single-use material (using the Base Empreinte^® database), energy of electrical devices, staff transportation and waste.

Results

The carbon footprint of the CPU was equal to 18’230.7 tons of CO₂eq. Antineoplastic drugs accounted for more than 18’179 tons of CO₂eq emissions. Excluding the medication part, it was equal to 51.7 tons of CO₂eq. More precisely the distribution of CO₂eq emission sources were staff transportation (35.9%), waste (21.1%), single-use sterile medical devices (18.1%), energy consumption (9.3%), disposable personal protective equipment (8.5%), and solvent bags and bottles (7.1%).

Conclusion

This study prompts us to identify the main sources of GHG emissions within a CPU. Areas for improvement to reduce global warming impact might be deprescribing of antineoplastic drugs, staff transport reduction using telecommuting or carpooling and rethinking our production process to reduce waste production.