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Acting responsibly and reducing the impact we have on our environment is an important consideration for the Trust, from the way we care for our patients, to ensuring we have a strong, financial and sustainable system in place. As a large acute healthcare organisation, we are committed to actively delivering our contribution to reduce carbon emissions and embed sustainability into everything we do. Climate change is globally recognised as the greatest environmental and economic threat faced by the national governments and individuals. It is also an opportunity for us to make those sustainable improvements, ensuring we use resources responsibly.

Since the publication of the Trust’s Green Plan ‘For a Greener Future’ in 2020, we have taken steps to embed sustainability into Trust culture and operations. Our initial focus has been on engaging our staff and seeking views as to how we can become a more sustainable organisation. A governance structure has been set up with a dedicated Sustainability Sub-Committee, and specific working groups whose purpose has been to drive the aims and objectives set out in the Green Plan.

We have now published our refreshed Green Plan, which builds on the previous plan ‘For a Greener Future’ with more targeted aims and objectives to ensure that we align with those of the national Greener NHS. It also sets out our plan to meet the NHS Long Term Plan, ‘Delivering a Net Zero National Health Service’ report and subsequent guidance documents focuses on reducing carbon. Some of these areas include, but are not limited to:

• Reducing carbon, waste and water
• Improving air quality and biodiversity
• Reducing the use of avoidable single-use plastics

This Green Plan will guide and develop future services in line with national and local policies and to ensure we embed sustainability in all services across the Trust.

Our new Trust Green Plan objectives are:

• Reduce the Trust’s NHS Carbon Footprint by 80% by 2032, and achieve net zero by 2040
• Reduce the Trust’s NHS Carbon Footprint Plus (including our wider supply chain) by 80% by 2039, and achieve net zero by 2045
• Achieve 10% net biodiversity gain by 2030, across the UHP estate
• Adopt the Clean Air Hospital Framework to achieve an ‘Excellent’ score of 70% by 2028
• Reduce the risk rating of the climate change risk assessment by 20% by 2025
• Adopt a sustainable model of care for each clinical pathway by 2030

The Green Plan will be reviewed regularly and will align with emerging policy, guidance, and other resources within the Greener NHS Programme.