The NHS in England has committed to ambitious net-zero targets – an 80 per cent reduction in emissions under its direct control by 2028-2032 and across the supply chain by 2036-39, reaching net zero by 2040 and 2045 respectively.
Writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, the researchers said that the most deprived people typically have poorer health, a lower life expectancy, and consume a greater amount of health services.
Given healthcare consumption is the ultimate driver of healthcare emissions, they write, this has important implications in terms of justice for the pursuit of net zero healthcare.
Lead author Dr Anand Bhopal, a PhD research fellow at the Bergen Centre for Ethics and Priority Setting, said: “Lifetime health costs among the poorest people are 10-20 per cent higher than the least deprived. It seems likely that individual healthcare carbon footprints also follow a social gradient, with emissions highest amongst the worst...