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The healthcare climate footprint is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from 514 coal-fired plants but health workers are finding ways to cut waste

Lois Wessel used to work as a labor and delivery nurse in community clinics in Maryland. She remembers that every time a baby was born, she would see a beautiful little creature – and then she’d see a whole big bag full of garbage, of sheets, supplies packaging and tubing.

Shanda Demorest, also a nurse, used to work on the cardiac unit of a hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She said when many of her patients were at the end of their lives, caring for them took an “astronomical and perplexing” amount of resources.

Related: The latest must-have among US billionaires? A plan to end the climate crisis

We’re learning not to open everything disposable until we know that we really need it

Sustainability can save hospitals, millions and millions of dollars in energy reduction

Figures show that 75% of SUVS were bought by people living in towns and cities

The stereotype of the Chelsea tractor, the derogatory term used to describe the tendency of the London middle classes to use 4x4 vehicles for the school run, is based on reality, according to new figures.

Promoted by carmakers and advertisers as a vehicle that takes you back to nature, new data shows that SUVs, which produce much greater CO2 emissions than most other cars, are most popular in affluent urban areas such as Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham and Westminster.

Related: SUVs second biggest cause of emissions rise, figures reveal

Related: How SUVs conquered the world – at the expense of its climate

China powers nearly 80% of the global cryptocurrencies trade, but the energy required could jeopardise its pledge to peak carbon emissions by 2030

China’s electricity-hungry bitcoin mines that power nearly 80% of the global trade in cryptocurrencies risk undercutting the country’s climate goals, a study in the journal Nature has said.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies rely on “blockchain” technology, which is a shared database of transactions, with entries that must be confirmed and encrypted. The network is secured by individuals called “miners” who use high-powered computers to verify transactions, with bitcoins offered as a reward. Those computers consume enormous amounts of electricity.

Related: Bitcoin rise could leave carbon footprint the size of London's

Exclusive: Experts in court challenge to £27bn programme say official emissions calculations dramatically underestimate figures

Carbon emissions from England’s planned £27bn roadbuilding programme will be about 100 times greater than the government has stated, according to expert witnesses in a court challenge.

Environmental campaigners are seeking a judicial review of the second roads investment strategy (RIS2), which was described by ministers when launched as “the largest ever investment in English strategic roads”, paying for 4,000 miles of road and including such schemes as the Lower Thames Crossing and the Stonehenge tunnel.