Our core priorities

Our people and culture

By 2025 we will: 

• develop and roll out enhanced environment awareness training for all leaders and managers
• launch an Environment Ambassadors programme
• grow our thriving Environment Network
• enhance and promote use of our Climate Action Toolkit

We will measure this by: 

• a percentage of leaders and managers completing training
• the number of staff completed the Environment Ambassadors programme
• through an environment staff survey 

Energy

By 2025 we will:

• optimise the way we use and manage our buildings
• improve the intelligence of buildings with real time energy monitoring and controls
• upgrade our estate to make it more energy efficient
• install further onsite low carbon and renewable technology
• establish minimum standards for new buildings and refurbishments
• investigate and test carbon offsetting for our residual emissions

We will measure this by: 

• our percentage of greenhouse gas emissions reduction 

Travel

By 2025 we will: 

• utilise technology and embrace hybrid working to reduce business travel
• support a shift towards low-carbon modes of business travel including transitioning 100% of our fleet to zero emission vehicles following the scope of the Government Fleet Commitment
• eliminate domestic business flights (excluding those to Ireland and Northern Ireland), shifting to lower carbon alternatives
• expand our charging facilities across our estate to support uptake of electric vehicles
• support low carbon and active travel for staff commuting

We will measure this by: 

• percentage of greenhouse gas emissions reduction
• percentage of vehicles with zero tailpipe emission
• number of domestic flights

Waste and resource efficiency

By 2025 we will:

• reduce our operational waste by 35%, eliminating waste at source and driving resource efficiency across our organisation
• increase the proportion of operational waste we recycle to greater then 80%
• send zero percent of waste to landfill where there is a viable alternative
• reduce how much paper we use across our organisation by 40%
• continue to reduce single use plastics from our estate and services 

We will measure this by:

• the percentage of waste to landfill
• the percentage of waste recycled
• the percentage of waste reduction
• the percentage of paper reduction 

Water

By 2025 we will:

• reduce our water consumption by 40%
• continue to monitor water usage to regularly identify increases in water consumption and opportunities for improvement
• upgrade our estate to make it more water efficient
• establish minimum standards for new buildings and refurbishments

We will measure this by: 

• the percentage of water reduction

Sustainable procurement

We aim to have an environmentally responsible, ethical, inclusive, transparent supply chain in place for NHSBSA that supports delivery of the organisation’s social value and policy ambitions. To reduce the impact of our supply chain, we aim to:

• ensure more efficient use of resources
• ensure the products we purchase are sustainable and efficient
• work with and influence suppliers to de-carbonise their own operations

By 2025 we will:

• quantify our supply chain carbon footprint and improve data accuracy by obtaining carbon data from our critical and high impact suppliers
• explore a roadmap to net zero for our supply chain and establish interim targets
• finalise and embed our Sustainable Procurement Framework, ensuring our suppliers align with this framework and can demonstrate progress against it
• continue to embed environment into our commercial practice, contract management, contract monitoring and supplier engagement

We will measure this by:

• the CIPS Ethics Kitemark
• the percentage of footprint containing supplier-specific data
• our supply chain carbon footprint percentage reduction 

Biodiversity

By 2025 we will:

• develop and implement a Biodiversity Plan for our estate, prioritising sites with greatest potential
• create and improve spaces that encourage and enhance biodiversity
• adapt estates management practices to place a greater focus on nature recovery, including within property refurbishment and construction projects
• create and run a variety of environment-based campaigns and volunteering days

We will measure this by: 

• a biodiversity net gain

Sustainable Information Communication Technology & Digital Services

By 2025 we will:

• continue to digitise our services as well as increasing the use of digital services to reduce use of paper and plastic cards
• set requirements for all suppliers of digital and ICT services to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions towards Net Zero using science-based targets
• explore opportunities to increase the procurement of remanufactured ICT devices in volume for cost efficiency
• increase the amount of ICT equipment that is reused, and materials recycled
• reduce the amount of ICT waste going to landfill to zero percent
• improve waste management by reducing the overall amount of ICT waste generated and increasing the proportion which is reused and recycled
• report on Sustainable ICT within our Annual Reports and Accounting (ARA) process
• optimise the use of third party or public cloud infrastructure and monitor their environmental performance
• establish methodology and quantify benefits of our digital services improvements 

We will measure this by:

• the percentage of supply chain carbon footprint containing data obtained from suppliers
• our supply chain carbon footprint percentage reduction
• the percentage of waste to landfill
• the percentage of waste reduction  

Climate change adaptation

By 2025, we will:

• conduct a Climate Change Risk Assessment across our estates and operations to better understand risk and to target areas that need greater resilience
• develop a Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan, including existing or planned actions in response to the risks identified
• integrate climate change risk and adaptation into our existing risk management and business continuity systems
• embed climate change adaptation into our investment and business case proposals where appropriate

We will measure this by:

• the delivery of our Climate Change Risk Assessment and Adaptation Plan 

Good governance

By 2025, we will:

• review and refresh our Environment Strategy and Environment Action Plan annually
• maintain Environment Committee and National Joint Safety, Health & Environment Committee
• maintain ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management System certification
• report on performance in NHSBSA Annual Report and Accounts and more detailed Safety Health and Environment Annual Report 

We will measure this by:

• our ISO14001 certification

Supporting a Greener NHS

By 2025, we will:

• explore and identify opportunities to use our data and insight to improve understanding, drive more sustainable methods of care and reduce waste across the health and care system
• support the Greener NHS ambition to digitise frontline clinical and operational records
• continue to develop and improve our services, adopting a digital by default approach
• utilise our systems and platforms increase engagement with key sustainability messages

We will measure this by:

• the number of data and insight opportunities identified
• the number of engagement campaigns supported
• the percentage of waste reduction
• the percentage of paper reduction