Green Plan summary
View a breakdown of our 10 Point Green Plan.
Sustainability at Nottinghamshire Healthcare
‘Climate change is the greatest global health threat facing the world in the 21st century, but it is also the greatest opportunity to redefine the social and environmental determinants of health’ - Lancet Report
Climate change is associated with rising sea levels, increasing global temperatures and weather extremes such as flooding, and these all have a direct impact on both our physical and mental health.
As the climate changes, more people become unwell, increasing the demand on healthcare services, which in turns increases emissions, fuelling the cycle of ill health. However, by adopting the key principles of sustainable healthcare, namely prevention, patient empowerment, lean service delivery and low carbon alternatives, we can break the cycle, leading to improved human and planetary health.
With the NHS contributing 5% of all UK carbon emissions, we must recognise that we are a significant part of the problem, but that we can also be a significant part of the solution.
The Trust is aware of the impact it has on our environment, the local economy, and our patient population. As such we are committed to continually work to integrate sustainability into our core business and deliver a Net Zero NHS and a Greener Nottinghamshire Healthcare.
Our Green Plan
The Green Plan is a strategic document outlining how the Trust will achieve net zero carbon emissions and sustainable healthcare by 2045. Following Board approval and its official launch in January 2022, the plan has been reviewed annually ever since, with Version 3 published in July 2024.
The Green Plan sets a clear strategic intent and a vision for the Trust to be:
‘A resilient and robust service provision which can adapt to a changing climate whilst delivering efficient, low carbon, patient focussed care’
The overarching aims of our Green Plan are to:
- Ensure our approach is aligned to the NHS-wide ambition to become the world’s first healthcare system to reach net zero carbon emissions.
- Ensure we prioritise interventions which simultaneously improve patient care and community wellbeing, while tackling climate change and broader sustainability issues; and
- Plan for and make capital investments while increasing operational efficiencies.
In the last year some of our achievements have included:
- Completing the 5th year of our behaviour change scheme, Green Impact
- Holding staff webinars or “GreenPods” to share learning on sustainability and focus areas of the Green Plan.
- Expanding our electric vehicle charging network.
- Expanding our electric vehicle fleet.
- Retaining our ISO14001:2015 certified Environmental Management System.
- Mapping clinical care pathways against the four principles of low carbon care.
- Completing several projects at Trust sites to increase biodiversity and/or access by staff and patients to green space.
- Producing a trustwide Climate Change Risk Assessment.
- Delivering IEMA (Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment) accredited environmental training to staff.
You can find out more in our Annual Environmental Performance Report.
Environmental Policy
The Trust has an Environmental Policy to ensure that the we comply with environmental legislation and best practice and actively encourages all staff to participate in and contribute towards improving the sustainability performance of the Trust.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about sustainability at Nottinghamshire Healthcare, please contact the team: environment@nottshc.nhs.uk.
Or follow us on Twitter: @Enviro_NottsHC
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