CARBON REDUCTION AND NET ZERO
‘Critical role of infrastructure’ in the Net Zero drive
Speaking at a Westminster Health Forum policy conference held online on 21 February, Lord Markham, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health & Social Care, discussed the ‘critical role of infrastructure’ in achieving the NHS’s Net Zero targets. While acknowledging that the NHS had already ‘done an incredible job of rising to this challenge’, he noted three key areas where there was an imperative to do more.
Giving a mid-morning presentation at the online conference, titled ‘The next steps for Net Zero and sustainability in the NHS’, Lord Markham was introduced by session Chair, Alifia Chakera, who is head of Pharmaceutical Sustainability, Health Infrastructure and Sustainability Division, at the Scottish Government. She explained that the Infrastructure and Sustainability team is ‘a relatively young, addition’. She said: “We are really looking at population health models and infrastructure concepts, and at the way we frame decision making to embed sustainability. Sustainability for us isn’t just environmental sustainability; it also lends to resilience, being fiscally responsible, and delivering high-quality patient outcomes. So, when we talk about sustainability, at least in Scotland, we’re talking about the whole gamut.”
A focus on energy and the estate Prefacing Lord Markham’s presentation, Alifia Chakera explained that with the Minister unable to present ‘live’, attendees would see a recorded presentation. She said: “Let’s now hear from Lord Markham – who has 30 years’ experience, and now has the responsibility of being Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care.” She explained that the DHSC speaker would be covering energy, and ‘the challenges around energy and the NHS estate’.
Appointed Parliamentary Under
Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Care on 22 September 2022, Lord Markham has extensive experience across the public, private, and voluntary sectors. He was previously Lead non-executive director at the Department for Work and Pensions, and for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and Deputy Leader of Westminster Council. In his current role he is the Minister responsible for the NHS estate (including Net Zero), the New Hospital Programme, NHS Finance, and Technology and Innovation.
Lord Nick Markham’s remit as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health & Social Care includes both the healthcare estate and the NHS’s Net Zero drive.
Thanking Westminster Health Forum for
inviting him to speak, Lord Markham said diary pressures had made it impractical for him to speak live, but he emphasised his keenness to address the day’s ‘vital theme’ of Net Zero. He said: “The Prime Minister has been clear he wants the UK to continue leading the charge on climate change – and it’s great to have the opportunity to talk about the NHS’s role in that. Today,” he continued, “I understand you’re also hearing from NHS England on the next steps for Net Zero across
the NHS’s entire carbon footprint.” As lead Minister for NHS estates and capital, he said his focus would be ‘the critical role of infrastructure in achieving these objectives”.
The NHS Net Zero Building Standard for all major NHS projects is reportedly ‘the first of its kind for a health system’.
Three main areas of focus Explaining that he planned to focus on three main areas – all tied to the NHS’s ‘world-leading commitment to achieve a Net Zero estate by 2040’, he said the three were, firstly – energy savings, and ‘the huge opportunities open to Trusts’ from investment in measures like solar, LEDs, and heat pump installation; secondly – building standardisation – and particularly the vital work being undertaken through the New Hospital Programme, and, thirdly, ‘the significant capital investment in heat decarbonisation happening across the existing NHS estate’. Before moving to discuss the three themes, Lord Markham said he wanted to ‘briefly touch on the wider context’. He explained: “Britain today is a clean energy superpower; figures from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero show that our renewable energy capacity has increased five-fold since 2010. We’ve had the fastest reduction in emissions of any major economy, down almost 50% since 1990, and – looking ahead to 2030 – we also have the most ambitious target for any major economy, a 68% reduction – far beyond both the US and EU targets.” He continued: “I won’t need to remind this audience of the major external challenges. We saw what happened in 2022 when Putin weaponised
April 2024 Health Estate Journal 37
NHS England
Creative Commons, CC-BY-SA-4
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