Authors:

• Dr Sangita Kindred, Anaesthetic Trainee, North Central School of Anaesthesia
• Dr Tim Jackson, Anaesthetic Trainee, North Central School of Anaesthesia
• Dr Kate Sherratt, Consultant Anaesthetist and North Central London Training Programme Director, 
  Royal Free Hospital

We are in the midst of a climate emergency. With record-breaking heat waves and flooding over the last few years, the danger to our patients’ health is undeniable. Even the World Health Organization described climate change as ‘the single biggest health threat facing humanity’.¹ Therefore, we have a duty as healthcare practitioners to change our practice to protect our future patients. Even the GMC has changed its guidance on ‘Outcomes for Graduates’ to reflect this need.²

Anaesthetic gases make up more than 2 per cent of the NHS’s carbon footprint, and reduction in their use is central to the NHS long-term plan to reach carbon net zero by 2045.³ Desflurane is a particularly harmful greenhouse gas, with a global warming potential over 100 years (GWP100) which is 2,540 times greater than carbon dioxide.⁴