Net Zero Carbon and the Healthcare Sector

There are few items higher on the world’s agenda than reducing carbon emissions and improving sustainability. For many businesses, the way forward is clear – except for one of the UK’s largest industries, healthcare.

Sustainability and healthcare have a dichotomy – balancing sustainable methods with extreme efficacy is a tall order and adding lives on the line complicates the matter further.

However, the good news is that there are ways to decarbonise within the Healthcare sector. Our team identifies why healthcare organisations (and those who supply those organisations) shouldn’t fear carbon reduction – and how those organisations can prioritise sustainability at every turn.

Net Zero Carbon and Healthcare: The Basics

‘Net Zero Carbon’ is thrown around so much that many professionals (environmental or otherwise) don’t know what it means. For corporate organisations, Net Zero Carbon is defined as the following by the experts at Science Based Targets:

‘To reach a state of net zero emissions for companies implies two conditions:

• To achieve a scale of value-chain emission reductions consistent with the depth of abatement achieved in pathways that limit warming to 1.5 C with no or limited overshoot and;
• To neutralise the impact of any source of residual emissions that remains unfeasible to be eliminated by permanently removing an equivalent amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide.’

For most healthcare organisations, the Net Zero Carbon target focuses on reducing operational carbon emissions, or emissions produced from the actual ‘running’ of an organisation, and supply chain emissions – emissions produced by the businesses that supply medical equipment, hospital
laundry, the transport between hospitals, and the like.

Sustainability and the Healthcare Industry

For those in the healthcare industry, it can be difficult to know where to start when it comes to sustainability. However, there are avenues that historically produce results, and our experts would urge clients to consider the following:

• Prioritising behavioural change: for most organisations, the most impactful carbon reduction measures involve behavioural change from stakeholders and from staff. We recommend that healthcare organisations of all sizes undergo a Carbon Footprint exercise. Following the Carbon Footprint, organisations could consider an Organisational Impact Assessment and a GHG Emissions Trajectory to form a strategy for Net Zero Carbon. These systems provide a logical framework for organisations to work through to achieve their sustainability goals and are valuable for organisations that are unsure of the next step.
• Utilising resources and thinking creatively: an effective way to decarbonise is to use the resources available and think creatively. For example, the GEP Environmental team was a part of one of the most ambitious Welsh renewables projects within the healthcare sector – the Swansea Bay University Health Board Solar Farm. The Swansea Bay University Health Board leased space for the project from a neighbouring landowner, and is now the first hospital-owned solar farm in the UK. The 4MW installation has more than 10,000 panels, and the Health Board hopes to generate enough power to cover 20% of Morriston Hospital’s electricity consumption each year, and at times, the entirely of the hospital at Morriston, Swansea. These tremendous results are the direct result of healthcare professionals and sustainability professionals working together to achieve a common goal, utilising resources and thinking creatively to solve a problem.
• Keeping downstream emissions in mind: healthcare organisations are large and have many factors to consider beyond building and behaviour when it comes to sustainability. To assist with this, the UK government has instituted Public Procurement Note (PPN) 06/21, requiring organisations that supply the Central Government (including the NHS) to provide evidence that they have a Carbon Reduction Plan in place. This is tremendous news for healthcare organisations – the government is mandating the decarbonisation of supply chain emissions, which are considerable in the context of a healthcare organisation.

While prioritising sustainability in the healthcare industry has its challenges, the future is bright. If your organisation is part of the healthcare industry, or an NHS supplier, our team of Environmental Consultants would be delighted to speak with you about ways to decarbonise your organisation. For more information, get in touch today.