May 2026

Significant update to the free-to-use calculator delivers multi-trial analysis capability and deeper country-level modelling, enabling sponsors and researchers to make more informed decisions about the carbon impacts of their trials.

The Sustainable Healthcare Coalition (SHC) in partnership with the Industry Low Carbon Clinical Trials (iLCCT) Consortium, announce the release of Version 3 of the Clinical Trials Carbon Calculator, a free web-based tool to help clinical trial teams measure, analyse, and reduce the carbon footprint of clinical research.

This update introduces year-specific emission factors, multitrial comparison capabilities, and expanded country level modelling, enabling sponsors, contract research organisations (CROs), and research teams to generate more accurate, transparent, and actionable carbon emissions estimates across global trials. The calculator’s supporting resources have also been expanded, with new FAQ and glossary sections, a quick start guide, and detailed calculation logic, all integrated directly into the platform.

We are excited to launch Version 3 of the Clinical Trials Carbon Calculator, which directly addresses feedback from our users across the clinical research community. We have strengthened the calculator’s ability to support real world decision making and enable meaningful reductions in trial related carbon emissions.

Fiona Adshead, Chair, Sustainable Healthcare Coalition

Compare Scenarios, Reduce Emissions
Version 3 introduces the ability to store, manage, and directly compare two trial scenarios side by side. Users can now duplicate an existing trial as the starting point for a new scenario, adjust variables, and compare carbon emissions outcomes side by side. This capability is particularly valuable for early-stage trial design, where choices about site location, supply chain configuration or monitoring frequency can have a significant impact on the overall carbon footprint. All data continues to be stored locally in the user’s browser, with no data shared externally.

Greater Precision for Global Trials
Version 3 substantially increases the granularity available for modelling trials conducted across multiple countries. Users can now enter country-specific data for trial staff travel and trial management activities, capturing real-world variation in transport infrastructure and working practices rather than relying on global averages. Country-specific energy grid emission factors are automatically applied and can be overridden where site-level information is available.

Supply chain modelling has also been significantly enhanced. Both investigational products and laboratory kits can now be assigned multiple supply countries, with the system automatically matching each trial site to its nearest supply location which more accurately reflects how global trials are executed.

Data Quality, Transparency and Confidence
Version 3 introduces features designed to improve the transparency and reliability of results including:

  • A new Results Confidence Indicator scores the quality of data entered for each trial out of 100, using a traffic light display to communicate clearly where estimates depend on default or approximate values. This helps users quickly judge the
    robustness of their results and understand where additional data would most improve
    confidence.
  • Default and system-generated values are now visually highlighted throughout the input sections, making it easier to identify where users should replace defaults where possible. Fewer defaults used means more accurate trial specific results.
  • To improve accuracy of data, the update also applies yearspecific emission factor datasets (2024,2025,2026) based on a trial’s start year; ensuring emission estimates reflect the most current available data.
  • Further enhancements include greater granularity in overnight bed stays and new device categories for participant-facing technology.

Strengthening Sustainable Trial Design
With these enhancements, Version 3 further strengthens the Clinical Trials Carbon Calculator as a practical tool for trial design optimisation, sustainability reporting, and internal decisionmaking.
By improving data quality, transparency, and comparability, the latest release helps teams identify highimpact carbon emissions drivers and evaluate lowercarbon alternatives earlier in the trial lifecycle.

Resources

Media contact
Joanna Bell, Programme Lead
[email protected]