Clinical Trial Carbon Footprint

Comparisons

Evidence quality

Highlighted claims

• Academic clinical trials remain understudied in carbon footprint research, with most existing publications coming from the UK. — Assessing the carbon footprint of French academic clinical trials using the NIHR method
• Published carbon footprint estimates for academic trials range from approximately 8 tonnes to over 900 tonnes CO2e, illustrating extreme heterogeneity. — Assessing the carbon footprint of French academic clinical trials using the NIHR method
• The two assessed French trials (3.2 and 5.8 tonnes CO2e) fall well below published values for other academic trials. — Assessing the carbon footprint of French academic clinical trials using the NIHR method
• Per-patient carbon footprint varies dramatically by trial size: the small single-centre phase I trial produced ~269 kgCO2e per patient versus ~5 kgCO2e per patient for the large multicentre phase III trial. — Assessing the carbon footprint of French academic clinical trials using the NIHR method
• Meetings and travel and CTU emissions are consistently the two primary carbon hotspots in academic clinical trials, consistent with findings across the broader published literature. — Assessing the carbon footprint of French academic clinical trials using the NIHR method
• Patient travel to hospital for trial-specific visits is commonly cited as an emission source in other studies, but did not apply to either French trial since neither required patient travel beyond standard care. — Assessing the carbon footprint of French academic clinical trials using the NIHR method