Homerton Hospital has become the first NHS trust to receive The Planet Mark sustainability certificate for committing to reducing its carbon footprint every year.
Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is based in Hackney and provides general health services within both hospital and community environments.
The trust should be congratulated for what it has achieved in recent years to reduce its carbon footprint
The hospital has almost 500 beds spread across 11 wards, a nine-bed intensive care unit and maternity, paediatric and neonatal wards.
The hospital was awarded The Planet Mark certificate in partnership with the Eden Project to recognise its work measuring its impact on the environment.
The trust has been working with energy and sustainability consultancy, Low Carbon Europe (LCE), an associate partner of The Planet Mark, since 2013 to manage its environmental impacts. However, The Planet Mark award marks the first time the NHS trust has measured and reported its carbon footprint.
As of March this year, the hospital’s relative carbon footprint was 1.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) per employee, and a total footprint of 5,885 tCO2e.
Nearly three quarters (72.6%) of the hospital’s emissions were electricity, compared to a quarter (25.7%) natural gas.
Achieving The Planet Mark Certification means Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has shown good practice in sustainability including:
- Measuring its carbon emissions from electricity gas, water and fleet
- Setting a 5% carbon reduction target for its 2017-18 reporting period
- Investing in the Eden Project to support education on climate change
- Storing 260 tCO2e by protecting one acre of endangered rainforest through the charity, Cool Earth
- Committing to engage employees and suppliers to drive improvements
Homerton director of estates, Chris Forster, said: “Working with our partners Low Carbon Europe, and with the full support of our trust board, we have been developing our sustainable management plan and action plan to reduce emissions in the hospital and our community units.
“We have just appointed a new environment and sustainability manager to take this work forward as we seek other new initiatives to enable us to become energy efficient.”
Commenting on the achievement, LCE’s managing director, Darren Jones, added: “We are very proud to have supported the trust over recent years to achieve this prestigious award and are very excited to build on the excellent work undertaken to date to help the trust meet its carbon reduction commitments going forward.”
And The Planet Mark founder, Steve Malkin, said: “The trust should be congratulated for what it has achieved in recent years to reduce its carbon footprint.
“It continues to look at new ways to become more sustainable and to reduce carbon emissions further and we are delighted to recognise Homerton as the first hospital to receive our accreditation.”
Holders of The Planet Mark are required to cut their carbon emissions by at least 2.5% each year in order to keep the award.
