Topic

Carbon intensity of medicines...

Gerry Lowe
Gerry Lowe • 17 August 2024

Hi

Does anyone know of a list of the carbon emissions per unit dose of some drugs and related items, please? Specifically the following...

Hartmann’s fluid, 0.5% bupivacaine (“heavy” – so with sugar added to increase specific gravity), 40mg parecoxib, Atracurium 10 mg/ml, Chlorhexidine bottles, Chlorine tablets, Chloroprep, Dexamethason, Diclofenac, Entonox, Ephedrine, Gentomycin, Glycoplyrate, Glycopyrolate/Neostigmine, Guedel, Hyoscine Butylbromide, Ibuprofen, Instillagel, Iodine, Loperamide, Magnesium Sulphate, Metaraminol, a Microenema, Midazalinol, Normasol sachet, Omeprazole, Opsite spray, Oxycodone, Paracetamol, Penthrox, Posiflush 10 ml, Prilocaine, Sodium chloride, Sterile water, Suxemethonium 50 mg/ml, Tegaderm (20x30cm), Tisept, Tristel, Ultrasound gel

Many thanks if you're able to point me to these!

Gerry

Comments (1)

Matthew Sawyer
Matthew Sawyer

Hi Gerry, Difficult to answer as there are likley different sources for different elements of your request. Some of the relative emissions for the tablet medications (e.g. ibuprofen, omperazole and loperimide etc) can be found in the MCF Classifier at https://formulary.yewmaker.com/ The gases (such as entonox) have a known GWP (Entonox = 265) so it depends on the volume used as to the footprint. For some, Ive put together a rapid carbon assessment tool e.g. dressings such as tegaderm. For others, its a matter of souring the literature for individual papers, checking the methodology with LCAs etc. Personally, I would advise avoiding any finance based emission factors if you are wanting product specific emissions.


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