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Saving Carbon, Improving Health :: NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy for England

Update :: NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy

Fit for the Future :: Scenarios for low-carbon healthcare 2030

Welcome to the NHS Sustainable Development Unit web site

UPDATE - NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy

Updating the Carbon Reduction Strategy with new statistics and valuable tools.

The latest information to help your NHS organisation save money and carbon.

The Update complements and should be used in conjunction with the NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy. 

Procuring for Carbon Reduction (P4CR)

Essential reading for anyone who procures for the NHS. 

P4CR offers guidance, tools and supporting material that details how the NHS should procure in a low carbon way.

David Nicholson says you must be a Good Corporate Citizen

Is your Trust or NHS organisation a Good Corporate Citizen? 

David Nicholson explains in this short video why you should be taking it seriously.

SDU in Sustainability Today

The SDU discusses why climate change provides an opportunity for the NHS and needn't be a threat.

Response to the Monitor Consultation

The NHS Sustainable Development Unit supports Monitors consultation proposals for increased reporting on sustainability and carbon emissions by NHS Foundation Trusts.

HSJ Award Winners

Congratulations to the HSJ Good Corporate Citizenship Award Winners. 

Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust excelled in a very tough competitive category.

Maisie and George - the future of their planet

The NHS is one of the largest contributors to the UK's carbon footprint. The British Medical Journal  the BMJ has commissioned a video about the impact climate change will have on babies born today, and how the NHS can reduce its carbon emissions.

The NHS Sustainable Development Unit has been involved in the making of this thought provoking  film. 

Copenhagen and Climate Change News - regularly updated

Is the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen good news for your Trust?  

Latest Climate Change news, effects on Healthcare, and the Wave - the march against global warming.  Read the SDU's speech at the march.

The NHS SDU has signed up to the Copenhagen Communiqué.

Doctors speak out on Climate Change

The Lancet medical journal has launched a wake up call for Governments and Health Professionals attending the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen.

The series of special articles describes how climate change has a direct impact on health.

 
 

 

SDU on Health Exec TV

Why should the NHS reduce its carbon footprint and act more sustainably?  David Pencheon, Director of the Sustainable Development Unit explains what Trusts and NHS organisations need to do to drive change locally.  David describes how the NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy can be delivered across the country and how acting on it can help save money, energy and carbon.

SDU in Public Service Review Health

"For the NHS, carbon reduction is a "win-win" situation.  Recognition of the fact that climate change is the predominant health issue of the 21st Century should go hand-in-hand with its core business operation: to prevent poor health and to save lives".  Read the article in the Public Service Review: Health (Autumn 2009). 

David Pencheon – Hear the webcast on the health challenges of climate change

“The credit crunch is about borrowing from our children; the climate crunch is about stealing from them.”  So says SDU Director David Pencheon.  In his first global webcast David discusses the health challenges of climate change.  For more information click here or  listen to the Webcast.

 

 

 

SDU in the news

SDU Director, David Pencheon co-writes a letter to the Guardian urging the Government to cut carbon emissions to improve health.
 

CRC finalised

Do you qualify for the CRC?  Is your electricity bill around £500,000 or more?  Is your annual half hourly metered (HHM) electricity use at least 6,000 Megawatt hours?

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has announced the latest details on the CRC - now called the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme.  Also the NHS Confederation has published its CRC Briefing in conjunction with the SDU, DECC and DH.

   
 

NHS Foundation Trusts

Building the case for sustainability.  Why Foundation Trusts are taking it so seriously.

   
 

 Is the NHS Fit for the Future?

The NHS needs to transform the way it delivers healthcare.  The Sustainable Development Unit's document Fit for the Future looks at how the NHS must take action now to plan for its long term future in the face of climate change.  See a video of the launch.

   
 

SDU Viewpoint - Hospital Car parking charges

Health Secretary Andy Burnham has announced that car parking charges will be scrapped for people visiting family and friends in hospital.  He made the announcement at the Labour Party Conference 09 saying it will happen within three years.  Find out the NHS SDU view on this news.

   

 

Cutting NHS emissions by 10% in 2010. See which NHS organisations are taking part.

The 10:10 campaign is an alliance between The Guardian and The Age of Stupid.  Hospitals, surgeries and health authorities have joined the campaign.

   
 

 Are we in The Age of Stupid? Convert your work place into a cinema

From the 7th July 2009 all NHS staff will be able to order the environmental film, The Age of Stupid for free

   

Sustainable Development Unit - implementing Saving Carbon, Improving Health

Following the launch of the national strategy Saving Carbon, Improving Health on 27th January 2009 the challenging business plan of the SDU sets high ambitions for 2009/10.

Want to get involved? See the expanded chapters for further information on reducing the carbon footprint of your organisation. The resource pack provides the materials to support transforming the strategy into action on carbon reduction.


   

Case Study Good Practice examples

Examples of good practice from NHS organisations are now avaliable here.

   
 

Resources 

Much more information is available in our downloadable resources section with guidance on energy, travel and procurement from the Department of Health and NHS PASA among others.

   

Briefing papers

One of the key questions following  the launch of Saving Carbon, Improving Health is how do we measure the carbon footprint at national, regional and organisation level. In partnership with the NHS regional networks, SDC and DH we have developed briefings on carbon footprinting in the NHS and monitoring the 10% target.

   

Carbon Reduction Metrics for Healthcare Regulation

The Healthcare Commission has recently published a report it commissioned from the NHS Sustainable Development Unit, which looks at the data currently available to support NHS trusts being assessed for carbon reduction monitoring by the regulator. The Healthcare Commission will be sharing the report's findings and recommendations with the Care Quality Commission, which becomes responsible for regulating the NHS on 1 April 2009.  A copy of the report is available here.

 Useful documents

CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme - NHS Confed Briefing October 09

This briefing looks at the Carbon Reduction Commitment and how it will be implemented in the NHS

  
     

Climate Change and the NHS

This briefing sets out the key points of new climate change legislation and other initiatives that are helping the NHS to do its bit on climate change.

The Lancet

Climate change and health:devastating health consequences are anticipated with changing patterns of infections, reduced water and food security, increases in extreme climate events, and large-scale population migration.

A collaboration between The Lancet and University College London, UK, resulting in the first UCL Lancet Commission report, setting out how climate change over the coming decades could have a disastrous effect on health across the globe. The report examines practical measures that can be taken now and in the short and medium term to control its effects.


© 2010 NHS Sustainable Development Unit