The Go Green Project: An EAU Young Urologists Office initiative

The healthcare sector contributes to nearly 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. If healthcare were a country, it would rank as the fifth-largest emitter. Due to its high procedural intensity and resource consumption, surgery and especially urology play an important role in this impact. Every step of our work has a potential to be sustainably improved. As an example, disposable scrubs produce up to 62% more carbon than reusable alternatives, and a single robotic prostatectomy generates approximately 24.9 kg of CO2 equivalent to driving 150 km. Operating rooms alone emit between 300 and 5000 tonnes of CO2 annually. Yet many of these emissions are preventable. For example, office-based cystoscopies with limited draping can significantly reduce waste without increasing infection risk, while teleconsultations can cut emissions by up to 90%.

The EAU Young Urology Office (YUO) is launching the Go Green project, an initiative designed to integrate environmental sustainability into urological practice across Europe. 

The project is structured around three main pillars. The first focuses on research and evidence generation, calling for a European research network on sustainable urology, multicentre life-cycle assessments, and guidelines encouraging urologists to report environmental data alongside clinical outcomes. The second addresses clinical practice, particularly in the operating rooms and outpatient consultations. It proposes educational programmes focusing on waste segregation, energy efficiency, and the safe reuse of surgical instruments. In the future, the project aims to develop digital tools to track environmental performance. The third pillar defines sustainability standards for all EAU events: prioritisation of certified venues, sourcing catering locally, and introducing voluntary carbon offsetting. Moreover, the resources available to a large university hospital in Western Europe differ considerably from those at smaller hospitals in lower-income countries. Therefore, rather than prescribing a uniform standard, the project promotes context-sensitive approaches. Where budgets are tight, low-cost measures such as switching off unused devices and waste sorting are suggested, while better resourced institutions are encouraged to pioneer solutions and share what they learn. The goal is sustained progress across all settings, not just perfection in a few places.

With younger generations of urologists increasingly engaging in the sustainability conversation, the Go Green Project offers a structured path to integrate environmental responsibility into standard practice.