Background: Carbon emissions are a key focus as we address the ongoing climate crisis. Healthcare, like other sectors, should aim to improve its sustainability while prioritising patient care. This is especially relevant when we consider the impact of worsening environmental factors through pollution and their effect on public health, leading to increased incidences of cancer1. Within this scope, we rarely consider the environmental impact of our clinical trials1. The developments achieved through the results of a trial should not come at the expense of excessive carbon emissions where they are avoidable. For example, many patient surveys have moved to a paperless format, and we should aim to identify further areas where we can improve the sustainability of our clinical trials. The SLRON CTU is a member of the Irish Research Radiation Oncology Group (IRROG) and plays a leading role in the design and role out of national radiation therapy investigator initiated trials (IITs) .
Aims: We would aim to identify areas where carbon emissions can be reduced within two IITs, at various points within their cycle (some are currently recruiting patients and others are at protocol development) and create guidelines for IITs geared towards improving sustainability. This would be achieved by quantifying carbon emissions of the two IITs and identifying areas that contribute most significantly to those end-point values using the Sustainable Healthcare Coalition’s Clinical Trial Carbon Calculator. This model combines the carbon from separate modules of design, management, and operation and weights their contributions to estimate the overall carbon footprint of a trial in kgCO2e.
Hypothesis: Clinical trials that reduce paper waste by integrating electronic data collection, reduce waste of disposable clinical equipment and those that avoid increased appointments for patients to reduce their transport emissions will have lower carbon emissions than trials not incorporating these measures.