• Patricio Gonzalez-Pizarro, Luca Brazzi, Susanne Koch, Alexandra Trinks, Jane Muret, Niek Sperna Weiland, Gordana Jovanovic, Andrea Cortegiani, Tiago David Fernandes, Peter Kranke, Anna Malisiova, Paul McConnell, Lucia Misquita, Carolina S Romero, Federico Bilotta, Edoardo De Robertis, Wolfgang Buhre, and Sustainability National Representatives.
• From the Department of Paediatric Anaesthesia and Critical Care. La Paz University Hospital, Madrid, Spain (PGP), the Department of Anaesthesia, Intensive Care and Emergency, 'Citta' della Salute e della Scienza' University Hospital, Department of Surgical Science, University of Turin, Turin, Italy (LB), the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) Odense, Department of Anesthesia, Hospital of Nykobing Falster, Denmark (SK), the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte, and Campus Virchow Klinikum (SK), the Department of Anaesthesiology. LMU University Hospital, LMU Munich, Germany (AT), the Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care. Institute Curie & PSL Research University, Paris, France (JM), the Department of Anaesthesiology, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (NSW), the Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperatve Medicine. Medical Faculty, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia (GJ), the Department of Surgical, Oncological and Oral Science, University of Palermo, Italy. Department of Anesthesia, Intensive Care and Emergency, University Hospital Policlinico Paolo Giaccone, Palermo, Italy (AC), the Department of Anaesthesiology, Hospital Pedro Hispano, Matosinhos, Portugal (TDF), the Department of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care, Emergency and Pain Medicine, University Hospital Würzburg, Germany (PK), the Department of Anaesthesiology and Pain. P&A Kyriakou Children's Hospital Athens Greece (AM), Royal Alexandra Hospital. Paisley, Scotland, United Kingdom (PM), Department of Neuro-anaesthesia and Neurocritical Care, The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, University College London Hospitals NHS Trust, London, England, United Kingdom (LM), the Department of Anesthesia, Critical care and Pain Unit, Hospital General Universitario de Valencia. Research Methods Department, European University of Valencia, Spain (CR), the "Sapienza" University of Rome, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, Rome, Italy (FB), the Division of Anaesthesia, Analgesia, and Intensive Care - Department of Medicine and Surgery - University of Perugia Ospedale S. Maria della Misericordia, Perugia, Italy (EDR), the Division of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, Department of Anaesthesiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands (WB).
• Eur J Anaesthesiol. 2024 Apr 1; 41 (4): 260277260-277.

AbstractClimate change is a defining issue for our generation. The carbon footprint of clinical practice accounts for 4.7% of European greenhouse gas emissions, with the European Union ranking as the third largest contributor to the global healthcare industry's carbon footprint, after the United States and China. Recognising the importance of urgent action, the European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (ESAIC) adopted the Glasgow Declaration on Environmental Sustainability in June 2023. Building on this initiative, the ESAIC Sustainability Committee now presents a consensus document in perioperative sustainability. Acknowledging wider dimensions of sustainability, beyond the environmental one, the document recognizes healthcare professionals as cornerstones for sustainable care, and puts forward recommendations in four main areas: direct emissions, energy, supply chain and waste management, and psychological and self-care of healthcare professionals. Given the urgent need to cut global carbon emissions, and the scarcity of evidence-based literature on perioperative sustainability, our methodology is based on expert opinion recommendations. A total of 90 recommendations were drafted by 13 sustainability experts in anaesthesia in March 2023, then validated by 36 experts from 24 different countries in a two-step Delphi validation process in May and June 2023. To accommodate different possibilities for action in high- versus middle-income countries, an 80% agreement threshold was set to ease implementation of the recommendations Europe-wide. All recommendations surpassed the 80% agreement threshold in the first Delphi round, and 88 recommendations achieved an agreement >90% in the second round. Recommendations include the use of very low fresh gas flow, choice of anaesthetic drug, energy and water preserving measures, "5R" policies including choice of plastics and their disposal, and recommendations to keep a healthy work environment or on the importance of fatigue in clinical practice. Executive summaries of recommendations in areas 1, 2 and 3 are available as cognitive aids that can be made available for quick reference in the operating room.Copyright © 2024 European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.

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