How to reduce the environmental impact of medical gases?
3 questions to Brice Fontana, Medical Gases VP at Air Liquide Healthcare World Business Line
Published on January 17, 2025
3 minutes
On a global average basis, healthcare systems account for over 4% of global CO2 emissions1. Medical gases are used on a daily basis in patient rooms, operating theaters, intensive care units and emergency departments, to deal with acute situations of respiratory failure or resuscitation. At hospitals and clinics, anaesthetists,pharmacists, maintenance specialists, engineers have started their carbon reduction journey, engaging their numerous suppliers around carbon reduction goals from scope 1 to 3.
How does Air Liquide Healthcare support healthcare facilities around the world?
We are providing over 20,000 hospitals by offering solutions that help Healthcare professionals in their daily practice. Today, we are making our commitment more visible: by being AlwaysThere for Hospitals and Healthcare professionals, providing unparalleled medical gas supply reliability and seamless onsite gas management in a sustainable way so that caregivers feel confident and can focus their energy on patient care.
How would you describe the growing interest from hospitals healthcare facilities to be supplied with certified low carbon oxygen and nitrogen?
As electricity represents an important part of the liquid Oxygen & Nitrogen production process, an impactful way to reduce the product carbon footprint is to source electricity from renewable energy sources.
With the ECO ORIGIN™ offer, Air Liquide Healthcare offers certified low-carbon2 medical gases, liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen, produced using electricity from 100% renewable energy sources to hospitals.
Air Liquide Healthcare is also committed to reducing the share of emissions linked to transport, through the optimization of delivery routes and the introduction of alternative fuels.
What are the first feedbacks from your customers on the ECO ORIGIN™ offer?
Our customers drive different projects to reduce CO2 emissions, projects that sometimes take time and are expensive or need investment. The ECO ORIGIN™ offer is an opportunity to have a significant impact for our customers in a very effective way. With this offer,we are focused on drastically reducing the carbon footprint of our Liquid Oxygen & Nitrogen products in a seamless experience for our customers, helping them to reach their Carbon reduction objective.
As described by Matthijs de Vroed, Sustainability Leader of the Ikazia Hospital, Nederlands, one of our first customers to choose this offer:
This reduction in our emissions means a reduction of 16,000 kg of CO2 annually. A great step towards reaching the objective of the Dutch Healthcare Green Deal that targets to reduce the carbon footprint of healthcare organizations in the country by 30% by 2026.
2 Certified by an independent organization, in compliance with international ISO standards 14021/ 14067