18 December 2025
Emergency care sites in Ireland have become the first in the country to be accredited for environmental sustainability through the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s GreenED programme.
Announced today (18 December 2025), the Emergency Departments at University Hospital Waterford, Galway University Hospital, Mayo University Hospital, as well as Bantry General Hospital Injury Unit, have been awarded a Bronze accreditation, reflecting their commitment and innovation in driving and implementing environmentally sustainable practices.
The GreenED programme supports teams within Emergency Departments to reduce their environmental impact through various targeted, evidence-based actions that are divided into Bronze, Silver and Gold levels.
Addressing these actions not only improves the environmental sustainability of an ED but contributes to national net zero targets and creates financial savings while maintaining or improving patient care.
Since May this year, some of these sites have successfully reduced the number of unnecessary venous blood gas testing (blood tests used to measure various metabolic parameters) and the use of cannulation in ambulatory patients (drips in patients who are mobile) – all without compromising patient safety. Other measures implemented included the electronic mailing of discharge summaries and switching to use recycled paper.
Together, these emergency care sites have quantified an estimated 18,516 kilograms of CO2e* in carbon savings and €104,188 in cost savings.
Participation of sites in Ireland follows collaboration with the Health Service Executive (HSE) Climate Action and Sustainability Office and the National Clinical Programme for Emergency Medicine (NCPEM) in Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), supported by SPARK Innovation Funding.
Dr Sandy Robertson, Chair of RCEM’s Environmental Specialist Interest Group (ESIG) which oversees the GreenED programme said: “Congratulations to these Emergency care sites that have achieved their accreditations – their teams should be immensely proud, just as we are at the College.
“Their achievements reflect the dedication and creativity of Emergency Medicine teams, who are driving meaningful change to make their departments more sustainable, reduce their environmental impact, and ultimately improve the health of their patients.
“Each of these departments have implemented a range of ground-breaking initiatives and serve as leading examples of what can be achieved to reduce our environmental footprint.”
“The climate crisis is a growing threat to every one of us. The quality of the environment affects the health of our patients, and we have a duty, as Emergency Medicine clinicians, to ensure we play our part in securing a safer, greener future for everyone.
“We are delighted that HSE and RCSI are committed to making Emergency Care in Ireland as sustainable as possible by enrolling these sites to take part in the programme and we look forward to continuing this partnership so that more departments can become accredited through RCEM’s GreenED programme.”
Dr Ian Higginson, RCEM’s President said: “At the College, we are proud to support emergency medicine services to take direct action on sustainability through our GreenED programme, whilst improving the quality of patient care and saving money.
“In Emergency Medicine, we see first-hand the human toll of a changing climate – from heat and cold-related illnesses to injuries after significant weather events. We are also aware of the need for our health care systems to become resilient in the face of climate change.
“Addressing the crisis takes collective action to protect the health of our patients and the health of our planet.
“We look forward to seeing what these teams, who have achieved bronze today, continue to achieve through our GreenED programme and hope this will inspire others to sign up.”
Roisin Breen, Programme Lead, HSE Climate Action and Sustainability Office commented that “The HSE is committed to supporting sustainability efforts as it aligns to our vision of a net zero health service by 2050. EDs are resource-intensive and fast-paced environments. Despite these challenges, the teams have shown that meaningful sustainability improvements are achievable through small, focused changes in daily clinical practice. The support of RCEM has been fantastic. These Bronze awards recognise their leadership and commitment to improving environmental sustainability without compromising patient care.”
Padraig Kelly from RCSI added: “This milestone reflects RCSI’s ongoing commitment to sustainability and strengthens the progress made through initiatives like the Sustainable Surgery Report and the Green Surgery e-learning programme. It highlights the impact that partnership and innovation can have in advancing environmental improvements across healthcare.”
Since its launch in July 2023, RCEM’s GreenED accreditation programme has supported 48 UK-based Emergency Departments, including every ED in Wales through a collaboration with the Welsh Government, with the first five accreditations awarded last year, and the programme’s first gold achieved this year.
Meanwhile an international pilot is underway in Australia’s New South Wales with 13 EDs working towards accreditation.
RCEM’s Environmental Specialist Interest Group (ESIG) and Clinical Quality team have led the development of GreenED.
Building on its success, the programme’s Framework has recently been updated, to incorporate new resources and actions for major EDs across the world to implement.
*CO2 equivalent (CO2e) is a standard unit for measuring the impact of different greenhouse gases on global warming, relative to carbon dioxide (CO2).