Health Secretary Sajid Javid has sent an open letter to NHS trusts in England on the vital role they must play in achieving shared ambitions on climate change and the environment.

The letter praises the work to date on reducing carbon emissions within the NHS, with the Health and Social Care Secretary also highlighting positive examples of biodiversity projects already taking place in the health service. Since 2010, the NHS has reduced its emissions by 30 per cent.

Furthermore, the NHS Forest initiative has led to over 77,000 trees already being planted across 200 different NHS organisation estates.

The letter pinpointed a number of statistics. NHS organisations in England occupy some 25 million m2 of land in acute care alone, bringing direct responsibilities on major issues like biodiversity, air quality, waste reduction and water quality. On climate change, NHS emissions are around 4t o five per cent England’s total carbon footprint, and over a third of public sector emissions.

Javid wrote that capital investment in net zero can bring a range of significant benefits, including in driving down backlog maintenance bills. Equally, many of the measures required are simply about improving building efficiency – and reducing energy bills.

NHS England and Improvement has set out the requirement for all trusts and integrated care systems (ICSs) to produce a three-year Green Plan, with Javid backing the agreement and encouraging NHS trusts to ‘think carefully about how they can best manage and enhance their green spaces for the benefit of people and wildlife, and undertake clear actions to deliver this’.

Following the COP26 climate conference, the first ever net zero health building standard will be launched and will be applied as part of this government’s commitment to build 48 new hospitals before 2030.