By acting on product choices and administration routes. Switching paracetamol from intravenous to oral administration reduces the footprint per dose by up to a factor of 16 (38 gCO2e orally versus 310 to 628 gCO2e intravenously). In anaesthesia, desflurane, with a warming potential 2,540 times higher than CO2, has been banned in the EU since January 2026 except where medically necessary, and sevoflurane emits much less. Buyers can also compare suppliers for the same molecule using the Ecovamed carbon score, and incorporate it as a criterion weighted at 10% in contracts for the 18 priority molecules.
Read the source article: Carbon footprint of medicines: Ecovamed and carbon scores