The Lancet Commission on Climate and Health has previously called for the health-care community to take a leadership role in advocating for emissions reductions, and to critically examine its own activities with respect to their effects on human and environmental health.
As an organisation RACS supported these calls, and in recent years the environmental sustainability of surgical practice has become an increasing advocacy priority for RACS. This includes the establishment of a dedicated Environmental Sustainability in Surgical Practice Working Party (ESSPWP).