Carbon Hotspot Briefs: Addressing Major Sources of Carbon Emissions for Health Care Products

There are millions of different products used in health care, but only a small percentage have been studied for environmental impacts using tools like a life cycle assessment. However, the research community has shown common patterns of which materials and processes contribute most to emissions. This resource summarizes these patterns and presents insights into the carbon emissions of a single product, which is representative of a general category of health care products. The briefs also include suggested product and process improvements to help reduce the carbon footprint. The goal is to support health care sustainability decision-makers in identifying actions that will have the greatest decarbonization benefits.

Each brief is based on a peer-reviewed study with results that are typical for the product category. The selected studies have made choices around location, product use, waste treatment approach, etc., so the results represent specific situations. Where possible, the briefs broaden the context to apply the results more generally.