To the Editor: The environmental impact of Australia’s health system needs to be assessed. Estimates from the United Kingdom indicate that travel is responsible for 13% of health care-related carbon emissions, with patient travel contributing 6%.1 Australia’s total emissions for the year to September 2012 were estimated to be 24.1 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent gas (tCO2e) per capita, with 16% of all emissions being transport-related.2 In a recent study, we sought to estimate the carbon cost associated with health-related travel from rural and remote Australia.
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- 1. Sustainable Development Unit. Carbon footprint update for NHS in England — 2012. Fulbourn, UK: SDU, 2013. http://www.sduhealth.org.uk/documents/Carbon_Footprint_summary_NHS_update_2013.pdf (accessed Feb 2014).
- 2. Australian Government Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. Australian national greenhouse accounts: quarterly update of Australia’s national greenhouse gas inventory. September quarter 2012. Canberra: DCCEE, 2013. http://www.climatechange.gov.au/quarterly-update-australias-national-greenhouse-gas-inventory-september-2012 (accessed Feb 2014).
- 3. Ellis I, Cheek C, Jaffray L, Skinner T. Making a case for telehealth: measuring the carbon cost of health-related travel. Rural Remote Health 2013; 13: 2723.
- 4. Baxter J, Gray M, Hayes A. Families in regional, rural and remote Australia [fact sheet]. Canberra: Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2011. http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/pubs/factssheets/2011/fs201103.pdf (accessed Feb 2014).
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The Rural Clinical School of the University of Tasmania is partly funded by the Australian Government Department of Health.
No relevant disclosures.