SUSTAINABILITY
4: Do you currently have a Green Plan (formerly a Sustainable Development Management Plan) in place? Last year’s NHS Standard Contract introduced the necessity for all Trusts to develop a Green Plan to outline how they were going to reduce their carbon emissions. However, 38% still do not have a plan in place. Beth Goodwin said: “The 2021/22 NHS Standard Contract now also states that each Trust must nominate a Net Zero lead, and notify the Coordinating Commissioner of who that lead is, further highlighting that a Green Plan is no longer merely ‘an option’, but rather something that should be developed by all NHS Trusts.
“In the words of the saying, ‘Failure to plan is planning to fail’. Even those Trusts with Green Plans in place will need to ensure that the targets set are in line with the targets published in the Delivering a ‘Net Zero’ National Health Service document.”
5: Do you currently measure your performance against the sustainability goals set in your Green Plan, annually? Those respondents who answered ‘yes’ to Question 4 were asked this question, and 86.6% said that they do measure against the Green Plan they have developed. Of the 13% that answered ‘no’, the majority said in in question 6 that they use their Sustainable Development Assessment tool (SDAT), or have ‘another action plan’ in place.
6: How are you currently measuring the performance of your sustainability goals?
(No set answers to select from for this question were listed in the survey, giving respondents the opportunity to respond in their own words.) Answers included: n “Not sure.” n “Not presently measured, but we have plans to measure performance against our carbon baseline.”
n “Using the SDAT and NHS Carbon Footprint.”
n “Annual carbon emissions (absolute and efficiency KPIs), SDAT performance score, and ‘other’.”
n “Non-carbon sustainability metrics.” n “We have an annual action plan each year which we review.”
n “We have a group that is constantly monitoring our performance.” n “Using the NHS SDU SDAT.”
7: Do you have the data you need to measure your progress against your sustainability strategy?
In response to this question, 46% of respondents said they do not have the data to measure their progress. “As indicated earlier,” said Beth Goodwin, “we believe it is of paramount importance to have a baseline in place for Trusts to be
Green Plan Annual Report We don’t 0 Other (please specify) 0 15.38
10 20 30 40 50 60 Percentage
70 80 90 100 Question 8: How do you update key stakeholders on performance (choose one)? Estates Department
A team created especially to drive sustainability
Chief Executive/ Key stakeholders Other (please specify)
0 0 0
10 20 30 40 50 60 Percentage
70 80
Question 9: Which function is responsible for driving sustainability within your Trust (choose one)?
able to set realistic and measurable goals in their Green Plan, and to have this in place as soon as possible. A Trust’s Green Plan should also look back to 1990, and estimate its reduction against the 80% ‘stretch goal’ to enable it to set meaningful targets.
8: How do you update key stakeholders on performance?
Sixty-nine per cent of respondents stated that they use their Trust’s Annual Report to update key stakeholders, with only 15%
Funding Lack of skills
Lack of alignment with other projects
Key stakeholder buy-in
Lack of clear objectives
We don’t have any barriers
Impact of COVID-19
Other (please specify)
0 10 15.38 20 30 40 50 Percentage
Question 10: What do you believe are the main barriers currently in place to achieving net zero carbon within NHS Trusts (tick all that apply)?
May 2021 Health Estate Journal 47 60 70 80 90 100 0 53.85 23.08 15.38 38.46 46.15
using the Green Plan. “However,” noted Beth Goodwin, “a Trust’s Green Plan often featured within its Annual Report, so there may be some overlap here.”
9: Which function is responsible for driving sustainability within your Trust? In the survey, 70% of respondents stated that their Trust’s Estates Department is responsible for driving sustainability within and across the organisation. Beth Goodwin said: “While this wasn’t a surprise, decarbonising the NHS estate is
84.6 90 100 30.77 69.23
15.38 69.23
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