Trust approves new Green Plan
BWC has started an important new chapter on its sustainability journey.
The Trust Board has approved an ambitious new ‘Green Plan’ setting key targets to tackle climate change, recognising the impact it has on the health and wellbeing of women, children and families.
It builds on work so far and clearly sets out the next steps in areas such as energy, water, our use of medicines and gasses and many more.
Matt Boazman, the Chief Officer for Strategy and Innovation and Chair the Trust’s Green Plan working group, said it was a hugely important agenda for the health for patients and the public today and for the future.
He said: “Climate change poses a major threat to our health as well as to the health of our planet. The environment is changing and that change is accelerating.
“As a Trust we recognise the enormous impact that climate change can have on health and wellbeing - the consequences of air pollution, flooding, extreme temperatures and environmental pollution are profound and disproportionally impact some of the most deprived communities that we serve.
“For the Trust to be a truly sustainable organisation, we need all of us to play our part, and we will also need to work together with all of our partners and local communities to deliver this Green Plan.”
The Trust has set out two key targets that we will seek to deliver:
• For the emissions we control directly (the NHS Carbon Footprint), we will reach net zero by 2040, with an ambition to reach an 80% reduction by 2028 to 2032;
• For the emissions we can influence (our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus), we will reach net zero by 2045, with an ambition to reach an 80% reduction by 2036 to 2039.
There is also a focus on key areas including building energy, water and waste management, medicines and anaesthetic gases, fleet and transport, personal travel, commissioned services and equipment and supply chains. This will be underpinned by a clear leadership structure and our network of green champions.
A great deal of work has already been done in a number of areas with the Trust achieving zero waste going to landfill, employing an energy manager to continually review and improve our energy efficiency and exploring technologies to destroy nitrous oxide after patient use to name a few.
Within the UK, air pollution in our cities continues to be the number one environmental risk to human health and is linked to around 40,000 premature deaths a year.
The NHS became the first healthcare system in the world to commit to delivering carbon net zero and The Trust’s Green Plan sets out our organisational commitment and strategy for how we will achieve this for Birmingham Women’s and Children’s
Dan Saxton, the Trust’s new Sustainability Lead, said:
“There has been a lot of work done already, for example we have been to reduce our total carbon emissions by 11% between 2014/15 to 2020/21 (equivalent to 2,800 tonnes CO2e per year), but a lot of it has gone unseen.
“We know there is more to do and that there is a passion do so from our colleagues and our patients and the new Green Plan gives us a clear target to work towards as well as a clear path on how we will work to reach them.”
To view or download the Trust’s Green Plan please click here: BWC Green Plan 2021 [pdf] 7MB
Watch out for more on our Green Plan on our website, social media and in upcoming editions of BWC Talk