The NHS recognises that climate change and health are interlinked, and if climate change is not tackled it will be to the detriment of the public’s health and increase the already heavy burden on health and care services.

Taking action to reduce harmful carbon emissions will contribute to reducing cases of asthma, cancer and heart disease, saving lives and improving health now and for future generations.

As one the leading carbon contributors in the UK, there is a lot the NHS can do to reduce its carbon footprint and therefore its impact on the environment.

The UK Government has set clear targets for achieving net zero carbon emissions and the NHS has made a clear commitment to achieving these and becoming the world’s first net-zero health service by 2040 for those emissions we control.

NHS Midlands and Lancashire Environment statement 2020-25

Our commitment and Green Plan

Though CSUs are not specifically required to create a ‘Green Plan’, we recognise that NHS ML must play its part in reducing our environmental impact and carbon footprint. We have therefore formed a Sustainability Group made up of people across the organisation and lead by Debbie Bywater, Chief Information Officer, to create and implement a ‘Green Plan’ of our own. We have now published our Green Plan that outlines how we will achieve our aims.

We have also published a Carbon Reduction Plan to measure our impact on the Green Plan and report on baseline emissions and how we are performing to reduce emissions.

Our approach

We will focus on areas such as digital transformation, travel and transport, estates, supply chain and procurement, medicines and sustainable models of care. We are exploring quick wins, longer-term initiatives and broader sustainability goals to reduce our footprint.

We are also supporting the Greener NHS staff campaign: Healthier Planet, Healthier People – which aims to help NHS staff discover how to become greener and help create a greener, sustainable NHS in a way that is meaningful to you.