FOI/2025/26/265

Request

The questions below relate to medicines carbon footprint reporting for Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust in 2024.

 

Question 1: Do you calculate the carbon footprint of medicines?

Answer 1: Yes

 

Question 2: What was the carbon footprint of medicines for 2024?

Answer 2: 946 + 42 + 28 = 1,016 tonnes CO2e

(Pharmacy supplier + Inhalers + Medical gasses)

 

Question 3: How did you calculate the carbon footprint of medicines in 2024?

Answer 3:

2. Top-down + bottom-up - we use a spend-based factor for most medicines and specific (bottom-up) carbon footprint calculations for others (e.g. inhalers and/or anaesthetics. Please specify for which medicines you use bottom-up calculations.

For inhalers and medical gases, we use a bottom-up method that specifically links the number of inhalers quantity of gas to the total emissions. For all other medicines, we use a spend-based factor, but these factors are specific to ordering that particular medicine from that particular supplier.

 

Question 4: For top-down calculations what factor did you use?

Answer 4: 0.51 kilograms CO2e per £ spent

This is the average factor for the supplier, but the total footprint was calculated using a specific spend-based factor for each product.

 

Question 5: Do you update the factor used?

Answer 5: Select one of the following

The factor is updated less frequently than yearly

 

Question 6: Why did you use this factor?

Answer 6: Please provide as much detail as possible including when and who supplied this factor.

These factors were determined by an external consultant who calculates the carbon footprint of our pharmacy expenditure.