Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (CNTW) is marking Earth Day by launching the organisation’s ‘Green Plan’.

This Green Plan sets out how the trust, the largest provider of mental health and disability services across the North of England, aims to reduce its carbon emissions to ‘net zero’ by 2040, and actions it will take to meet other sustainability goals by 2026.

In March 2020 CNTW’s Board joined a growing number of NHS organisations in declaring a ‘climate and ecological emergency’.

The Green Plan sets out 36 specific actions that CNTW will achieve by March 2022. (The plan will be updated next year to reflect a new set of actions for 2022-23, continuing to work towards the key goals to be achieved by 2026.)

These actions cover a wide range of topics and include: reducing energy consumption by five per cent; promoting further research into how improving access to nature and green spaces can support people’s well-being; reducing the use of single-use plastic across the Trust in line with the NHS Plastic Reduction Pledge; increasing the provision of recycling bins by at least 50 per cent; and reviewing the environmental and social impact of the Trust’s current supply chains.

The trust’s plans support NHS England’s overall ambition for the whole NHS to be carbon neutral by 2040, which was announced in October last year.

Anna Foster, Trust Lead for Strategy and Sustainability at CNTW, said: “The NHS overall is estimated to be responsible for around five per cent of all UK carbon emissions and five per cent of all journeys on UK roads are estimated to be healthcare-related. In 2018-19 the carbon footprint of our Trust was equivalent to around 26,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

“Climate change and pollution pose a serious threat to the health of the people we serve. We have already taken some steps in recent years to reduce our waste and lower our emissions, but our Green Plan clearly sets out ambitious goals for providing more sustainable care. We will continue to work in partnership with our staff, service users and their carers, other health organisations and our local communities to deliver on the actions we have committed to in this plan.”

CNTW has also pledged support for the North East of England Climate Coalition (NEECCo), which launched at the end of March 2021 with a collective ambition for the North East of 'becoming England’s greenest region'. NEECCo is England’s first regional cross-sector climate coalition, and is calling for every individual, household, business and organisation to sign up and make a pledge via their website.