One Step Forward To Sustainability: The Carbon Footprint Of Cataract Surgery In Australia

To report on the carbon footprint of cataract surgery at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia, and to establish a baseline for benchmarking and future auditing, with view to improving sustainability of eye care in Australia and globally.

Department of Ophthalmology in a tertiary public teaching hospital in Australia.

This was a prospective consecutive case series of 31 phacoemulsification cataract surgeries conducted at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, with ethical approval from Human Research Ethics Committee. The ‘Eyefficiency’ application, a triple bottom line cataract surgery auditing tool with established carbon footprint analysis, was used to estimate the efficiency, cost, and environmental impact of phacoemulsification cataract surgery. 

We examined data from 31 cataract surgeries performed at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. The mean cost of phacoemulsification cataract surgery was 830 in Australian dollar. The mean emission per cataract surgery case was estimated to be 164 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent, which is equivalent to burning 70 litres of petrol. Consumable supply was the greatest source of emission of cataract surgery (45%), followed by patient and staff travel (26%), and energy use (21%). The average weight of general waste produced from each cataract surgery was 2.11kg.

This is the first carbon footprint study of cataract surgery in Australia, offering a baseline for benchmarking locally and globally and measuring future progress. There are significant opportunities for emission reduction in cataract surgery. Carefully considering the use of disposable goods, reducing patient travel, and transitioning to renewable energy sources are all worthwhile targets.