Dr. Brecht De Tavernier presented at the 14th of October at the European Society of Emergency Medicine Congress in Copenhagen about making emergency departments more sustainable.
He explained how he started the decarbonization of his emergency departments in Antwerp, Belgium. These actions were the starting point of our company Net Zero Healthcare Impact. With NZHI, we aim to support the decarbonization of the entire healthcare system.
The first step towards a low carbon department is a mapping the actual situation, this means calculating the CO₂ emissions in order to define the possible interventions to lower the impact.
At the emergency departments of ZAS Vincentius and Augustinus in Antwerp, Belgium, where 61626 patients were treated in 2023 the annual CO₂e emissions were 496 232 kg CO₂e. The departments caused 16% emissions in scope 1, 9% emissions in scope 2 and 75% in scope 3, mainly consisting of medical instruments, equipment and consumables (41% of total emissions) and pharmaceuticals (13%).
