Calculating the Carbon Cost in Critical Care: A Global View from an Intensive Care Window

Abstract

The "Global Climate Change and Children's Health" is a technical report and policy statement (1), that outlines the specific ways global climate change impacts child health, and calls on health practitioners to understand the threats, anticipate the impact on health, and advocate for strategies that will lessen the effects. A carbon footprint is defined as: The total amount of greenhouse gases produced to directly and indirectly support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO 2). It is often understood as in the following examples: Other greenhouse gases which might be emitted as a result of human activities are methane and ozone. These greenhouse gases are normally also taken into account for the carbon footprint. They are converted into the amount of CO 2 that would cause the same effects on global warming. This is called equivalent CO 2 amount. Carbon footprint may also be expressed in kg carbon rather than kg carbon dioxide (By multiplying with a factor 0.27 i.e.1'000 kg CO 2 equals 270 kg carbon).