Sustainable pathology practice

Climate change is the greatest threat to human health and survival in the 21st century. Its effects include:

• extreme weather events
• reduced food production (through soil loss, soil water availability and salt ingress; altered plant and animal pathogens; fishery loss; and drought, fire, flood and freezing)
• water and airborne pollution
• vector-borne disease
• socioeconomic effects that drive poverty, mass migration and war.

Meanwhile, our negative impact on the natural environment – resulting in the rapid decline in biodiversity of animal and plant species – poses significant threats to human health and survival. We have already breached 7 of the 9 planetary boundaries that are critical for maintaining the Earth’s stability and resilience.

Healthcare globally contributes around 5% of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and around 10% of gross domestic product. Action in healthcare, therefore, has the potential to leverage far greater decarbonisation in the global economy. The NHS has committed to delivering the world’s first net-zero health service by 2045. Pathology services contribute significantly to the environmental footprint of healthcare through high energy use (and thus fossil fuel emissions). Laboratories typically consume up to 10-times more energy than offices, due to constant refrigeration, ventilation and operation of high-throughput analysers. Meanwhile, pathology services generate substantial waste from single-use plastics, chemical reagents and biohazard materials.

The Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath), a professional membership organisation concerned with all matters relating to the science and practice of pathology, aspires to play its part in addressing these environmental threats. Pathologists are well-positioned to lead sustainable healthcare innovation by adopting greener practices, improving test appropriateness and advocating for environmentally responsible systems without compromising diagnostic quality. Many have roles outside the laboratory, such as patient facing clinical care (haematology, microbiology), medical examiner roles or those who work with non-human animals (veterinary pathology). The RCPath thus seeks to collate and disseminate examples of good sustainability practice in a living ‘toolkit’ and to educate and inspire its members to adopt these practices.