Research

Lancet MedZero Platform

Announced by The Lancet at the UN Climate Conference in Brazil, Lancet MedZero was launched in early-2026. This platform provides health professionals with robust data on the carbon footprints of pharmaceuticals, medical and surgical devices, diagnostic services, and care pathways.

The Lancet MedZero is a collaborative project between several international founding partners. It will serve as a central repository for carbon impact data, which are crucial for integrating sustainability considerations into health technology assessments, clinical guidelines, procurement practices, health system policy making, and, ultimately, day to day clinical practice.

In its full form, the platform will provide the granularity of data needed to design lower carbon and higher quality care pathways, to identify and address emissions hotspots within medical devices and processes, and to improve the ability of health systems to track decarbonisation progress.

Partners: The Lancet Group, National University of Singapore, National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) Northeastern University, University of Melbourne and HITAP Thailand

Read the Lancet Journal article here

Clinician-led Projects

Healthcare Carbon Lab has led practical efforts in hospitals to reduce CO₂ emissions, by avoiding and reducing waste (e.g. plastics), and energy from steam sterilisers, ceasing nitrous oxide use, etc. in Australian hospitals.

Importantly we are living the paradigm whereby renewables make reusables better, i.e. as the Australian electricity grid is decarbonising with renewables, we are moving from single-use equipment to reusable equipment with resultant lower CO₂ emissions.

Healthcare Carbon Lab supports healthcare sustainability research and clinician-led projects that make a difference in the clinical environment that can be shared more broadly. Some clinician-led projects we have provided LCA support on include:

Implementation of reusable linen in the intensive care unit: Impact on pressure injury, staff satisfaction, and environmental sustainability

• Published in Australian Critical Care. Led by Kylie Feely, Wattle Fellow, Western Health

Beds we make, futures we shape: A life cycle and cost analysis of reusable and disposable linen in the ICU

• Published in Intensive and Critical Care Nursing. Led by Kylie Feely, Wattle Fellow, Western Health

Sustainable and Quality use of Diagnostics in Emergency Departments Project

• Reducing low-value diagnostic pathology, imaging, and interventions in Victorian Emergency Departments to improve patient outcomes, lower carbon emissions, and save healthcare costs.

Interventions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from health-system solid waste: a systematic review

• Published in the Lancet Planetary Health. Led by Alic McGushin, National Health, Sustainability and Climate Unit, Australian Centre for Disease Control, Canberra 2606, ACT, Australia

Sustainable continuous renal replacement therapy – the influence of blood flow rates, effluent dose, auto-effluent and citrate anticoagulation on carbon dioxide emissions.

• Led by Dr Cyveen Weeraratna (Principal Investigator), Senior registrar – Intensive Care Unit, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Victoria; Senior registrar – Intensive Care Unit, Monash Children’s hospital, Victoria.
  Endorsed for publication in Critical Care and Resuscitation

The environmental impact of peripheral intravenous cannulation: a comparison between different methods

• Led by Michael Bei, Western Health, Footscray, Victoria.
  Endorsed for publication in BJA

Green endoscopy – Can Filtered water use in endoscopy be a safe, economical alternative which promotes sustainable healthcare?

• Led by Michael Rouse, Western Health, University of Melbourne
  Endorsed for publication in ANZ Journal of Surgery

Reducing Single Use PPE in ICU: An Environmental Sustainability Project

• Multi-site project with Ethics & Governance approved led by Kerrieane Huyn, Monash Health

Rethinking Sterile Packaging Practices for Reusable Medical Equipment

• Led by Michael Lamb, Western Health

Lap Chole Scorecard to rank surgeons in terms of their choices of instruments.

• Led by Russel Hodgson, Western Health

·   Life cycle assessment for sterile hollowware at Wollongong Hospital theatres 2025

• Led by Soni Putnis, Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD

Measuring the carbon impact of nutritional feeding in the ICU

• Led by Timo Oosterveld, PhD-student, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden whilst on exchange with Royal Melbourne Hospital

Measuring the carbon impact of nutritional feeding in the ICU

• Led by Timo Oosterveld, PhD-student, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden whilst on exchange with Royal Melbourne Hospital

Mapping reusable alternatives to SUI & the environmental impact of transition in 3 Australian and NZ ICUs.

• Led by Fabian Dade, Western Health
• Project collecting data for analysis write up and publication

Continence Australia Research Project

• Led by Wendy Bower, Continence Health Australia, University of Melbourne

Comparative LCA of reusable Hem-o-lok System with disposable laparoscopic clipper and endoloop ligature.

• Led by Iman Hameed

Comparison of 10 Appendicectomies

• Led by Alex Langley with Hayden Snow, Western Health

Consequence of transition to reusable gowns & drapes at Peter Mac

• Led by Hayden Snow, Western Health

Consultancy-based projects

Client: NSW Ministry of Health, ICU Net Zero Carbon Hub
Project Title: Performing a Life Cycle Analysis of an ICU admission following an in-hospital cardiac arrest
Value: $21,828

Client: Hunter New England LDH
Project Title: Improved healthcare sustainability within the surgical environment
LCA of surgical items (skin prep solutions; needle-counters; hollow-ware; scrub brushes) and specific medical devices related to cholangiography to quantify comparative environmental impacts resulting from changes in process for this procedure.
Value: $30,753

$312,851 for three years was awarded in late 2023 by the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences Deanery.

$995,919.80 for NHMRC 2024 Collaborations in Health Services Research Grant (2044089)
This project is co-funded by Western Health and Melbourne Health.

Publications by the HCL Team

Please refer to:

• Find an Expert - Forbest McGain
• Find an Expert - Scott McAlister