just about procurement but re-use and recycling too. Searching the internet offered up toolkits by other organisations which were themselves good examples to use for inspiration but I found nothing aimed specifically at sustainable procurement for NHS libraries.
The NHS
To put the toolkit into the context of the wider NHS, there are many directives for driving the NHS to become Net Zero. Ultimately the toolkit is a step towards helping the NHS achieve this goal.
“In 2022, the NHS became the first health system to embed net zero in legislation, through the Health and Care Act 2022 (
www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2022/31/contents/enacted). This places duties on NHS England, and all trusts, foundation trusts, and integrated care boards to consider statutory emissions and environmental targets in their decisions.”
– Delivering a net zero National Health Service
All NHS Trusts must have a Green Plan in place to support the national goal of achieving a net zero carbon footprint by 2040 or as soon as possible thereafter, as outlined in the Deliv- ering a net zero National Health Service strategy. Libraries can align their strategies with their own NHS Trust’s Green Plan to demonstrate that library services can be engaged to help the sustainability actions and projects of the NHS Trusts. In addition to the requirement that all NHS Trusts have an approved Green Plan in place, the Care Quality Commission has added Environment Sustainability as part of their assess- ment framework. The quality statement specifies that staff and leaders within the Trusts should, “understand any negative impact of our activities on the environment and we strive to make a positive contribution in reducing it and support people
to do the same”.
And that staff and leaders, through awareness recognise “the impact of climate change on human health”. Providing sus- tainability awareness and education is where NHS libraries are invaluable.
The Net Zero and Sustainable Procurement Programme
NHS Supply Chain and Procurement make up the greatest per- centage of the healthcare carbon footprint which is currently at 45 per cent of emissions. See diagram below.
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