The University of Aberdeen is to co-lead a major project designed to cut the carbon footprint of clinical trials.
The Greener Trials project, led by the University of Liverpool, will adopt an open science approach to reduce the carbon output of clinical trials.
Led in Aberdeen by Professor Katie Gillies and Dr Beatriz Goulao, the collaboration includes The Institute of Cancer Research, South African Medical Research Council, NHS England, Sustainable Healthcare Coalition, alongside public and patient research partners.
Awarded more than eight hundred thousand pounds by Wellcome, the Greener Trials study will digitise guidance for assessing the carbon footprint of publicly funded trials. This will enable scientists to more rapidly gather the data required to identify areas of concern, identify research gaps and issues with current decarbonising systems, share mitigation strategies and promote behaviour change.
The project will result in a website hosting an open access, free online carbon calculator designed to work alongside calculators in development by the pharmaceutical sector, as well as active communities of practice, evidence-based mitigation strategies plus priorities for research.
Professor Katie Gillies, from the Aberdeen Centre for Evaluation said: “Clinical trials are essential to inform evidence-based medicine, but they have substantial unintended environmental consequences.
“Previous research has calculated an average carbon output of approximately 78 tonnes of CO2e. Assuming that the almost half a million clinical trials registered on an international registry also produce similar levels, this accounts for 37 million tonnes of CO2e, a value similar to the annual energy consumption of Norway.
“As the number of clinical trials being conducted continue to rise, so will the associated carbon emissions.
“The University of Aberdeen will lead research that aims to understand who needs to what differently in order to combat this. Specifically, we will talk with patients, funders, regulators, NHS sites to understand the main challenges to delivering greener trials and we will develop solution to combat this.
“This research will inform how we can design and deliver greener trials that also improve outcomes for patients and the public, better methods for better greener health.”