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Reducing unnecessary tests and treatments is one of the methods Australian researchers say can help lower overall healthcare carbon emission levels in the country.

In a published in the Medical Journal of Australia, the authors highlight it could save Australia over 8000 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions per year.

has found Australia鈥檚 healthcare community is responsible for seven percent of the country鈥檚 national carbon emissions. The hospital and pharmaceutical sectors account for 63 percent of that carbon footprint.

鈥淥f note, 90 percent of Australia鈥檚 healthcare emissions are indirect, stemming from the extensive national and global supply chains involved in the manufacture, distribution and provision of health care goods and services,鈥� said lead author Professor Alexandra Barratt, from the University of Sydney鈥檚 Faculty of Medicine and Health and the paper鈥檚 lead-author.

Actions such as greening hospitals鈥� electricity and water supplies and ending use of fossil gas are essential, but researchers say change needs to also occur in the model of clinical care in Australia.

Researchers say there are two key challenges to health system sustainability - low-value care and climate risk.

They are urgently calling for a low carbon emissions model of clinical care, which also provides healthcare of better value.

The researchers write recent estimates show that about 30 percent of healthcare can be considered wasteful or low value across the entire system, and a further 10 percent is harmful.

They say substantial carbon and financial savings could be achieved by omitting unnecessary tests and treatments, without any detriment to health.

In 2020, there were at least 80 million haematology, biochemistry and immunology tests requested in the Australian community, of which an estimated 10 to 40 percent were likely unnecessary.

Professor Barratt and her colleagues cited vitamin D testing as an example of a test that could be reduced.

Switching away from desflurane and nitrous oxide anaesthetic gases, which have large footprints, was also suggested.

鈥淥ne thing that can be done today is a cull of low-value care. That alone would save Australia over 8000 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions per year.鈥�

The authors recommend a whole-of-system approach, requiring involvement at government, organisational and individual levels.

鈥淕overnment regulatory agencies must continue to strengthen reform efforts such as the Medicare Benefits Schedule review, while also requiring manufacturers and sponsors to provide evidence of their products鈥� environmental impacts as well as costs and health effects and using their purchasing power to preference carbon neutral suppliers,鈥� said Professor Barratt and colleagues.

鈥淎t the [organisational] level, hospitals, health departments and professional colleges can institute training schemes and support clinical sustainability fellowships to advance better value, low carbon healthcare.

鈥淚ndividual clinicians can demonstrate local leadership by recognising the footprint of low- value care and refusing to provide it, acting as a role model to those around them.鈥�