Carbon Footprint of the NHS in England
This project calculated the carbon footprint of the NHS, identified and explored the impact of key supply chains and evaluated the potential carbon savings of different policy options.
The National Health Service (NHS), Europe's biggest single organisation with a current budget of around £100 billion, worked with the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) and the Stockholm Environment Institute (York) to attempt to get a comprehensive understanding of the carbon footprint of the NHS England. The purpose of the analysis was to support and inform the NHS England's high level carbon reduction strategy , which sets ambitious carbon reduction targets needed to progress towards the Climate Change Act requirements.
Two reports have been published. The first in 2008 examines NHS England's historical emissions from 1990 to 2004. The second report, published at the start of 2009, projects future emissions to 2020 and also develops the capability to quantify policy interventions in terms of CO2 savings. Together they form the evidence base for the NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy.