NOVA National School of Public Health, Public Health Research Centre, Comprehensive Health Research Center, CHRC, REAL, CCAL, NOVA University Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal; Public Health Unit, Local Health Unit Baixo Mondego, Figueira da Foz, Portugal.
NOVA National School of Public Health, Public Health Research Centre, Comprehensive Health Research Center, CHRC, REAL, CCAL, NOVA University Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal; Egas Moniz Center for Interdisciplinary Research (CiiEM), Egas Moniz School of Health & Science, Caparica, Almada, Portugal.
Environ Int. 2024 Aug;190:108828. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2024.108828. Epub 2024 Jun 18.
The healthcare sector has an environmental impact of around 4.6% of global CO emissions, contributing to aggravating the climate crisis. However, the impact of the health sector's emissions on human health is not regularly assessed. We aim to estimate the health burden and associated costs of the health sector's carbon footprint within the European Union (EU).
We calculated disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and associated costs based on human health damage factors (DALYs/kg-COe) by considering four scenarios. Three scenarios for shared socioeconomic pathways (S1 - high growth, S2 - baseline, and S3 - low growth) represented variations of global society, demographics, and economics until 2100. A fourth scenario (S4) considered the current EU's 55% reduction goal of greenhouse gas emissions. The healthcare sector's emissions per capita (in CO-equivalent) in 2019 were extracted from the Lancet Countdown, and population data were retrieved from Eurostat for the same year.
In the EU, 365,047 DALYs (95%CI: 194,692-535,403) are expected to be caused by the health sector's emissions at baseline (S2). In an S1 scenario, the burden would slightly decrease to 316,374 DALYs (95%CI: 170,355-462,393), whereas a S3 scenario would increase 486,730 DALYs (95%CI: 243,365-681,422). If EU's carbon goals are met, the burden could be substantially reduced to 164,271 DALYs (95%CI: 87,611-240,931). Costs can amount to 25.6 billion euros, when considering DALYs monetisation.
CO emissions from the health sector are expected to significantly impact human health. Therefore, it is important to ensure that EU climate policies for public buildings are in line with the Paris Agreement, increase funding for climate mitigation programs within the healthcare sector, and review clinical practices at the local level.
医疗保健行业对全球二氧化碳排放量的影响约为 4.6%，加剧了气候危机。然而，卫生部门排放对人类健康的影响并未定期评估。我们旨在估算欧盟（EU）内卫生部门碳足迹的健康负担和相关成本。
我们根据人类健康损害因素（DALY/kg-COe），基于四个情景计算了残疾调整生命年（DALY）和相关成本。三个共享社会经济途径（S1-高增长、S2-基线和 S3-低增长）情景代表了全球社会、人口和经济到 2100 年的变化。第四个情景（S4）考虑了欧盟目前 55%的温室气体减排目标。2019 年，从 Lancet Countdown 中提取了卫生部门人均排放量（以 CO 当量计），并从 Eurostat 中获取了同年的人口数据。
在欧盟，预计基线（S2）下卫生部门排放将导致 365047 个 DALY（95%CI：194692-535403）。在 S1 情景下，负担将略有下降至 316374 个 DALY（95%CI：170355-462393），而 S3 情景下将增加 486730 个 DALY（95%CI：243365-681422）。如果欧盟实现其碳目标，负担可大幅减少至 164271 个 DALY（95%CI：87611-240931）。考虑到 DALY 货币化，成本可能达到 256 亿欧元。
卫生部门的 CO 排放预计将对人类健康产生重大影响。因此，确保欧盟公共建筑的气候政策符合《巴黎协定》、增加卫生部门气候缓解计划的资金，并在地方层面审查临床实践非常重要。
