How to Track Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Veterinary Clinic

Ever wondered how many greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions your veterinary clinic produces? A new tool now exists to help calculate just that. The Veterinary Carbon Accounting for Local Clinics (V-CALC) tool is a United States–focused, open-access resource developed through a collaboration between Colorado State University Impact MBA student Terryann Kirui and the Veterinary Sustainability Alliance.¹

The V-CALC was designed to enable individual clinics to specifically account for GHG emissions associated with providing veterinary care, such as from energy to heat and cool buildings, heat water, power all appliances and medical devices, for the manufacturing and delivery of materials and supplies, waste, staff commute, and client travel. This information can then be used to direct and prioritize strategies to reduce our overall environmental impact.

Why Account for Carbon?

Individuals and businesses around the world are striving to identify and implement measures to reduce their carbon impacts in order to mitigate the environmental, social, and economic consequences of anthropogenic climate change.² In many countries, including the United States, there is mounting pressure on businesses to publicly disclose their annual carbon emissions data and associated carbon emission reduction plans.³

The healthcare industry has been particularly progressive in this area given the irrefutable link between climate change and health in addition to the substantial carbon footprint associated with the delivery of medical care.⁴ The U.S. healthcare industry is accountable for approximately 9% of U.S. GHG emissions,⁵ with a mortality carbon cost equivalent of more than 140,000 deaths per year,^6,7 motivating evermore rapidly the transition to providing health care more sustainably.

The veterinary medical sector has substantial opportunity to learn from human health care and similarly drive change towards a cleaner, healthier, and more efficient regenerative future.⁸ During this transition to prioritize and expedite impactful reductions, the profession must first identify which areas of business are contributing the greatest GHG emissions. This can be achieved through carbon accounting.

What Is Carbon Accounting?

Carbon accounting is the method of quantifying the annual amount of GHG a business (or individual) directly or indirectly emits. For each source of GHG, a factor can be applied to convert it to standardized CO₂ equivalents of global warming potential.⁹ The GHG protocol is a globally recognized standardized system that categorizes all accountable sources of carbon emissions into 3 scopes (FIGURE 1).¹¹

Figure 1. GHG protocol scopes 1-3, adapted from Healthcare Without Harm¹⁰

The absolute amounts and relative proportions of GHG emissions from each facility will vary substantially depending on location, practice type, and activity. For this reason, a clinic should complete its own baseline calculation, which will provide a comparison for future audits.

Scope 1 are direct, on-site emissions from a veterinary facility or business entity. These include fossil fuel combustion stationary sources (e.g., on-site gas or oil space heaters, water heaters, tumble dryers, combustion electricity generators), mobile sources (e.g., fleet vehicles for ambulatory services), and fugitive emissions (e.g., discharged waste anesthetic gases, refrigerants, extinguishers, propellants).

Scope 2 are indirect off-site emissions from the generation of purchased energy, predominantly associated with electricity generation (e.g., fossil fuel power plants, geothermal).

Scope 3 are all other indirect off-site emissions. This category is the most difficult to accurately account for and is by far the largest category. This category may be broken into 2 subgroups: (A) embedded emissions, in which a facility has less direct control over (e.g., pharmaceuticals, medical instruments, equipment, materials, construction, maintenance, electricity transmission losses), and (B) emissions that are, to some degree, avoidable (e.g., waste, staff commuting, patient/client travel, business travel, food, water, delivery/distribution).

How to Account for Carbon

The V-CALC uses emissions factors based on standardized methods from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines under the 3 scope categories of the GHG protocol. Data for each source can be input from previous purchasing and utility records. For electricity specifically, one can input the EPA eGRID (Emissions & Generation Resource Integrated Database) subregion (state average) or your exact local utility emissions factors, including chosen opted-in renewable electricity preferences.¹² Some data may need to be estimated (e.g., client travel, staff commute). Once complete, the initial baseline calculation for a facility will provide a stratified benchmark of current carbon emissions across GHG sources from all Scope 1 through 3 subcategories. The user-friendly V-CALC guide is a fundamental in-depth explanatory resource when using the calculator.

Using the Results

Quantified and stratified emissions specific to the facility are tabulated and graphed in the results section following completion of the calculations (FIGURE 2). This enables a facility to pinpoint emission hotspots, develop site-specific effective carbon reduction action plans to implement, and generate meaningful reduction targets to drive key central environmental policy. The calculator is a detailed measuring device with high reproducibility for subsequent audits, so that a facility can reliably and repeatably monitor and track measurable progress over time toward advancement of emission reduction goals. This affords an iterative process for continuous improvement.

Figure 2A. Example of a V-CALC veterinary hospital baseline calculation¹

Figure 2B. Example of a V-CALC veterinary hospital baseline calculation¹

Recommended Interventions

For the greatest impact in GHG reduction, the following interventions are recommended¹³:

• Scope 1: Electrify everything, including efficient heat/cool pumps for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning; water heater and tumble dryers; and vehicles. Employ anesthetic gas use reduction strategies.
• Scope 2: Transition to renewable, low-carbon electricity sources (i.e., solar, wind, geothermal, hydrokinetic), if available in your area. Implement energy efficiency measures to reduce use.
• Scope 3: Initially, tackle the most readily avoidable emissions, including diverting waste from landfill, transitioning away from meat-based diets both for staff and animals receiving care, incentivizing low-carbon travel, conserving water, and consolidating supply deliveries.

Read this Today’s Veterinary Nurse article for more information on non–meat-based diets.

Understanding Alternative Protein Sources for Companion Animal Food

Drive Your Sphere of Influence

Furthermore, the calculator can be used as a powerful tool to celebrate a facility’s verified achievements with staff, clients, and the wider community. The generated potent infographic imagery of comparative carbon emission reductions is invaluable for fostering engagement, promoting buy-in, and broadening commitment to further carbon reduction interventions. Boosted staff recruitment, improved staff retention, increased client appeal, loyalty, return rates, and spend are value-added corollary benefits that support enduring investment in sustainable initiatives and evince the business case for sustainability.^14,15