Paracetamol is one of the most widely prescribed medications in critically ill patients. Our intensive care unit (ICU) administered 50.133 g of paracetamol in 2023 (16.230 intravenous [IV] doses, 33.825 oral doses and 78 rectal doses). Two reports from the Netherlands showed that medication accounts for 40% of the environmental CO2 footprint.

Given this high percentage, interventions that decrease the administration of medications result in a direct decrease of the environmental footprint of healthcare.

Davies et al. performed a life cycle analysis and calculated the CO2 emissions (CO2e) of different formulations of paracetamol, including the administration supplies.

They showed that the total life-cycle greenhouse emissions stemming from administering a 1 g dose of paracetamol was 38 g CO2e for an oral tablet (from a blister pack) and 628 g CO2e for an IV dose (from a glass vial).

This shows a 16-fold increase of emission with the IV administration compared to the oral administration.

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