The Net Zero Health Service

Ricardo has today announced that it will be supporting NHS Services Scotland in the development of a strategy to achieve Net Zero before 2045.

The NHS and healthcare community has long recognised a ‘climate emergency’, following reports in 2009 by the World Health Organization and the Lancet Commission on Managing the Health Effects of Climate Change. These identified climate change as “the biggest global health threat of the 21^st century” and identified air pollution as the cause of an estimated seven million premature deaths every year.

The development of NHS Services Scotland’s net zero strategy aligns with the Climate Change (Scotland) Act which outlines a requirement for the public sector to achieve net zero emissions by 2045 at the latest.

The Net Zero strategy will also provide a pathway for identifying operational efficiencies, both through performance and cost reductions, covering areas such as improved energy solutions, introduction of new low emission technologies, further development of circular economy processes and improvements to the NHS vehicle fleet.

Kathryn Dapré, NHS Scotland’s head of energy & sustainability commented: “We’re looking forward to working with Ricardo’s experts on the development of routemaps to enable our Boards to meet net-zero carbon targets.  These routemaps will support NHS Scotland’s wider aspiration to be a net-zero service by 2045. As well as reducing NHS Scotland’s impact on the climate crisis, this will provide health co-benefits across the communities we serve.”

Ricardo experts are already supporting the UK water industry and whisky industry with developing robust science-based strategies to enable achievement of net zero ahead of the UK’s 2050 target. Earlier in September the Ricardo plc group also announced its own intention to achieve Net Zero in its operations by the year 2030.
Darren Perrin, Ricardo’s director of net zero commented: “Health and the environment are so tightly interlinked, and with this strategy the NHS Services Scotland will be playing an important role. We’ve have been working with NHS boards on sustainability for many years, and we’re excited our experts will be working closely with NHS Services Scotland to enable them to recognise ambitions to significantly reduce its impact on the environment.”