Net Zero progress
national grid decarbonises. The NHS will continue to deliver on-site renewable energy projects to bring down electricity costs, improve energy efficiency and resilience, and increase the potential for lower cost low carbon heating in future years. However, emissions associated with the use of gas (primarily for heating) accounted for around 40% of the NHS Carbon Footprint in 2024/25 and have reduced by just 1% since 2019/20.
Progress NHS Trusts have leveraged low-carbon investment opportunities to reduce carbon emissions across their estates, delivering substantial long-term savings and improvements to patient care. This progress has been bolstered by the NHS Net Zero Building Standard and the Green Lease Framework. l Since 2020, the NHS has secured over £1.4 billion in additional capital funding through the Government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme. This is funding over 100 projects which are expected to reduce energy bills, reduce emissions by over 125 ktCO2e, and provide a more comfortable environment for patients through building management systems.
l Over £135 million has been invested in energy efficiency measures, including LED lighting, solar panels, upgrades to building infrastructure and enhanced building energy management systems. Over 50% of the secondary care estate is now equipped with LED lighting, and solar generation has tripled since 2019.
l In March 2025, Great British Energy announced they would co-fund, with DHSC, a package of £100 million to install solar power and battery storage solutions to help drive down energy bills across the NHS. These projects are expected to deliver savings of around £8.6 million a year and up to £260 million over their projected lifetime.
l Since 2020/21, Trust waste emissions have reduced by 32%, with clinical waste volumes declining for three consecutive years – avoiding £22 million in costs and reducing landfill disposal to just 2%.
Next steps The NHS will continue to improve energy resilience and enhanced metering across the estate and seek to remove all oil-led primary heating systems by 2028. This will be supported by all Trusts either having or being in the process of developing and updating heat decarbonisation plans ready to transition away from fossil fuel systems to low-carbon alternatives. Heating remains one of the largest
sources of emissions across the NHS estate. Achieving the scale of change required will depend on sustained investment, access to technical expertise and long-term heat and decarbonisation planning. Following the Public Sector Decarbonisation
Scheme, the NHS will continue working with government and partners to identify investment to maintain momentum in decarbonising estates, including for onsite renewable energy generation that can deliver cost savings.
Food Catering staff across the NHS are working to improve the health of patients while reducing food-related emissions and minimising waste. Emissions associated with food and catering services are estimated to be around 3% of the total NHS Carbon Footprint Plus.
Progress l National Standards for Healthcare Food and Drink were published to ensure that healthy, nutritious and sustainable food and drink options are readily available and accessible.
l The NHS Recipe Bank has allowed chefs and catering managers to access over 200 lower- carbon recipes for easy menu design and dish swaps.
Next steps l The NHS will publish and implement guidance on reducing food waste. This will include using electronic meal ordering and improving crockery which has been shown to reduce food waste by 20% and 15% respectively.
l The NHS will support Trusts to identify food and food waste carbon hotspots so they can take action to develop healthy, nutritious, low carbon meals.
Delivering low carbon healthcare Everyone involved in the design and delivery of clinical care has a part to play in transforming their practices towards low carbon, high quality, efficient, equitable and cost-effective healthcare delivery.
Progress l The Delivering Low Carbon Care for a Healthier Future framework will provide guiding principles for all NHS staff involved in service design to support inclusive care design and delivery. This aligns with Net Zero commitments and prioritises patient health, and highlights carbon and cost savings.
l In partnership with the Greener NHS team, the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme has developed ‘GIRFT greener pathways’, a cross-specialty approach to decarbonising clinical care featuring high impact climate recommendations. A guide to decarbonising the bladder cancer pathway has been published, which estimates that implementation of the 12 recommendations would reduce carbon emissions by 2470 tCO2e, reduce costs, increase same-day diagnosis rates and mean patients spend less time in hospital.
l The Design for Life roadmap is currently being implemented in partnership with DHSC, to transition from all avoidable single-use medical technology products to a functioning circular system by 2045. This will be achieved by identifying opportunities to maximise reuse, recycling, re-manufacture, economic growth and resilience, and by working with staff to support behaviour change across the health and care system. A recent series of pilots with six Trusts sought to explore the impact and enablers
December 2025 I
www.clinicalservicesjournal.com 39
arcyto -
stock.adobe.com
t
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70
