China’s carbon neutral goal: 9 billion Covid-19 tests have generated at least 5.4 million tonnes of greenhouse gases since 2020
- When Covid-19 tests are performed millions of times globally on a daily level, ‘there will definitely be some impact’, Beijing University of Chemical Technology professor says
- According to data provider Our World In Data, China has performed more than 9 billion tests from the start of 2020 to April 11 this year
The production of testing kits, transport, testing and waste treatment all cause greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and air and water pollution, the researchers said in a new study published in the Environmental Science & Technology journal last week.
Improved approaches to waste treatment, low-carbon transport and the use of more environmental friendly materials should be considered to achieve sustainable and green diagnostics, as the world continues to battle the coronavirus pandemic and some countries led by China implement a zero-Covid policy with mass testing being conducted nationwide to prevent outbreaks, the researchers said.
“Even though Covid-19 diagnostics are of the greatest importance to end the pandemic, their environmental impact should not be ignored,” the researchers from institutions including Guangdong University of Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT) and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, wrote in the paper.
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“When we see a small (testing) kit, we often tend to ignore its environmental impact. But when it’s performed millions of times globally on a daily level, there will definitely be some impact,” Su Xin, professor of biomedical engineering at BUCT and one of the authors of the paper, told the Post last week.