NHS Property Services, which manages more than 10 per cent of the NHS Estate, has published its ‘Green Plan’, which outlines steps to be taken before the end of the 2024-25 financial year to support the NHS’s transition to net-zero emissions by 2040.

The NHS has reduced its emissions by three per cent on average each year since 2010, but that rate will need to reach eight per cent to achieve the long-term climate target.

The plan includes a commitment to transition its 800 service vehicles and 130 company cars to electric. The organisation is in the process of developing an EV strategy, detailing plans for installing vehicle charging points and for procuring new vehicles.

Also planned is a review of the staff travel policy, to better encourage other lower-emission methods of transportation like walking, cycling, car sharing and using public transport.

Other key commitments from NHSPS include using technology to help mitigate paper use and provide web-based patient services; creating biodiverse outdoor spaces; ensuring the efficient use of indoor spaces, and promoting low-carbon approaches to construction and minor works.

There are no new major targets on waste and renewables. NHSPS has achieved a 99 per cent per cent diversion rate from landfill for waste and switched to 100 per cent renewable electricity. Nonetheless, the Green Plan document states that plans are in place to continue optimising waste and energy management.

NHSPS’s head of energy and environment Cameron Hawkins said:

“The relationship between our health and our environment are inherently linked. It is vital that sustainability values are embedded in everything the NHS does, so that together we can improve the health and wellbeing of the communities we serve.”

NHSPS is also opening one of the first net zero health facilities this summer. The Devizes Health Centre in Wiltshire will use heat pumps and solar panels, reducing fossil fuel reliance.