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When a urologist performs a procedure, from a cystoscopy to a prostatectomy, their contribution to climate change is likely not in the front of mind.

But speakers during a plenary session at the European Association of Urology (EAU) 2024 Annual Meeting in Paris, France, on Saturday warned that urologists need to work toward reducing carbon emissions in the years ahead.

"The problem is clear: The healthcare system produces 4.4%of the global emissions in the whole world," said Annemarie Leliveld-Kors, MD, a sustainability expert and urologist at the University of Groningen in Groningen, the Netherlands.

Operating rooms produce one third of all solid waste from hospitals, according to Leliveld-Kors. She said an effort in Europe, known as the European Green Deal, is aiming "to reduce climate change and environmental degradation throughout the economy, including in healthcare, to reduce net emission of greenhouse gasses by 2050."

Countries like the United Kingdom are working toward eliminating the use of sterile surgical gloves if doing so is safe for patients and clinicians.

"There's a lot of oil needed to produce sterile gloves…many times higher than the nonsterile ones," Leliveld-Kors said. "So, why do we still use sterile gloves in simple cystoscopy?"

She also questioned the use of single-use cystoscopes over reusable versions.

"Urological surgery is a serious polluting activity, although it's not that invasive anymore," she said.

The use of telemedicine can help urologists cut down on their carbon footprint, according to Stacy Loeb, MD, a sustainability researcher and a professor in the Department of Urology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine in New York City. Loeb cited a meta-analysis by researchers from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles that showed telemedicine consistently reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

Researchers found the mean travel distance offset by patients using telehealth services ranged from 16.1 to 878.7 km, corresponding to a cumulative carbon saving of 706 million kilograms of carbon dioxide.

Loeb's own research has shown that avoiding unnecessary biopsies could also decrease CO2 emissions and gasoline consumption.

She said the planners of conferences should consider if a physical meeting is necessary, how travel distances could be minimized, and partner with eco-friendly hotels for greener meetings in convenient locations accessible by public transportation. Taking these steps, in addition to avoiding the use of paper materials and providing more climate-friendly food, would reduce the climate impact of medical conferences.

Alexander P. Cole, MD, a urologist and health services researcher at Harvard Medical School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who attended the EAU meeting, told Medscape Medical News that climate warming affects urology patients.

He highlighted the effects of dehydration, kidney stones, other kidney disease, and links between wildfires and prostate cancer.

"There's no question that climate change is the largest health threat facing us as a society right now," he said. "Climate change is in urology's wheelhouse."

Sources reported no relevant financial disclosures.

Howard Wolinsky is a Chicago freelance journalist.