“For mums that are giving birth now, climate change is clearly a big issue and we want to do all we can now to do better.”

Bethany, a Midwife, is part of the Newcastle Birthing Centre team that supported the UK’s first mother to give birth using climate-friendly pain relief during labour.

Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is well known for its award-winning sustainability programme and has committed to the ambitious goal of becoming a net-zero carbon organisation by 2030.

With up to eight million litres of gas and air used each year at Newcastle Hospitals, rolling out this innovative technology – a machine that removes and breaks down the harmful greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide, from gas and air given during labour (after the parent has benefitted), offers the potential to reduce emissions across the UK, one birth at a time.