Scotland has become the first country in the world to ban the use of the anaesthetic desflurane - a gas NHS suggests has a global warming potential 2,500 times greater than carbon dioxide.
UK hospitals have already extensively cut down on the use of the gas used to keep people unconscious during surgery. More than 40 hospital trusts in England and dozens of hospitals in Wales have stopped using it in the last few years.
While NHS England will introduce a ban similar to the one in Scotland in 2024, other countries, including many in Europe, are expected to follow suit in the next few years.
Banning the use of desflurane across Scotland and NHS hospitals in England could cut emissions equal to powering 1,700 homes and 11,000 homes a year, respectively.
A number of hospitals in Scotland have switched to safe and effective anaesthetic gases with relatively less global warming potential such as sevoflurane, or to using alternative non-gaseous anaesthetics and better equipment.
Meanwhile, Dr Helgi Johannsson from the Royal College of Anaesthetics, in a statement to the BBC, highlighted the growing awareness among anaesthetists about such climate-harming gases, but warned that it's only the start and just "a drop in the ocean of the NHS carbon footprint."
Overall, anaesthetic gases are responsible for about 2-5% of the NHS's carbon footprint.
Dr Johannsson emphasised the growing need of concentrating on "all the other major things that can make a difference too", including reducing the journeys patients take and tackling old hospital buildings that are difficult to heat.
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