Sustainability
For example, check out the Business Climate Hub’s SME Climate Hub or the Carbon Trust’s SME Carbon Footprint Calculator. You then need to set your targets for
decarbonisation and ensure that these are consistent with a 1.5°C pathway required to meet net zero. Too many fall into the trap of making a commitment without science- based targets - having no idea what they need to achieve. Science-based targets are not driven by marketing but by climate science - ensure that you focus on actually removing greenhouse gases, not simply offsetting. Once you understand your footprint and the targets you need to achieve, you can focus on action and projects to remove carbon from your own operations and supply chain. Again, links such as those above give a wealth of advice and suggestions to help reduce your footprint.
Enjoy cost benefits in four key areas While every organisation will vary in terms of where its carbon comes from, there are four key areas that care homes can look at. Interestingly, some of these will generate cash savings that go hand in hand with carbon savings.
1. Energy
Energy efficiency is likely to be a significant contributor towards the carbon footprint of your business. The BRE Trust (Building Research Establishment), a charity focused on research, standards and qualifications to make the built environment a better place, with funding from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, has created a bespoke energy assessment tool for care homes. They can identify energy efficiency improvements, find funding where
available, as well as provide information on suppliers and contractors. The BRE Trust is a government-sponsored scheme, so you can be sure of its reputation and, it says, you could recoup your investment in less than one year.
2. Travel and logistics The second opportunity is likely to be travel and fuel. Prior to the pandemic, the health and social care sector was responsible for five per cent of all road journeys. At a corporate level, look at an electric
vehicle (EV) fleet – with the move away from diesel and the development of battery technology. EVs are a real alternative to fossil fuel cars and create massive tax advantages for each employee. Make a commitment to an electric fleet to signal your intent. Your employees commute to work will also impact on your organisations carbon footprint. Therefore question what can you do to promote better commuting, such as the introduction of a cycle to work scheme. There is much talk of the carbon benefit of home working, which negates daily commutes. However, while it is not feasible for many working in the care sector, home working has benefits but also challenges. Working at home - each employee heating and lighting their own properties - does not always lead to carbon efficiency compared to a single, larger workspace.
3. Food and agriculture
It will come as no surprise that one of the biggest areas where savings can be made is that of the provision of food. Clearly, the provision of food is a core part of care provision and has a critical role in well- being, nutrition and resident satisfaction. It is also true that agriculture has one of the largest impacts on carbon emissions.
Animal proteins and in particular, red meat and dairy, have real carbon challenges. There has been much talk of the need to move to plant based diets to help tackle climate change, but this comes with its own challenge when it comes to residents’ choice, availability, and cost. Here at apetito, we have taken on this challenge and launched what we believe is a world first in the health and social care sector - the reduced carbon menu. Working with the NHS, we have designed a range of menus that can reduce the carbon footprint by as much as 20 per cent. We have done this without any notable change in choice of meals and importantly, and without any added cost to our customers. Hospitals are similar to care homes in some respects. Patients, as with care home residents, are often serving an older client group. This means that our most popular meals, whether in hospital or in a care home setting, are, not surprisingly, more traditional dishes such as roast beef and cottage pie that come with carbon challenges.
By making small adjustments to menu
cycles and moving some red meat dishes to white meat dishes, you will be surprised by how much carbon you can save, and these savings increase if you move a few more to fish or plant based. It does not have to be a seismic change, just a few small tweaks can make a surprising difference.
4. Waste
All of us can identify strongly with the issue of waste and, in particular, that of plastic and recycling. It is estimated that by 2050, there will be more plastic in our oceans than fish. It is important that we all look to reduce, re-use and recycle. However, the reality is that UK recycling
infrastructure is simply not up to the task of the levels of recycling that we require. The UK has inadequate facilities
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www.thecarehomeenvironment.com February 2022
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