Healthcare decarbonisation projects across Scotland are helping to support the country's expanding net zero economy while accelerating progress towards NHS Scotland's target of achieving net zero emissions by 2040.
This is according to the healthcare innovation organisation InnoScot Health.
The specialist organisation was founded in 2002 to bridge the gap between Scottish healthcare staff, academia, and industry to bring new medical devices and technologies to market.
InnoScot Health highlights figures from the Confederation of British Industry, which show Scotland's net zero economy now contributes £10.2bn to national economic output.
The country is now generating around 97% of its gross electricity from renewables.
The net zero economy supports more than 105,000 jobs and includes over 3,000 businesses operating across green industries.
How healthcare estate upgrades support net zero goals
InnoScot Health said healthcare is playing an increasingly important role in that growth through investment in renewable energy, estate modernisation and low-carbon technologies.
NHS Scotland has reduced its overall emissions by 32% since 2015/16, according to figures published by the Scottish Government in December last year.
The reduction has been supported by energy efficiency measures, system optimisation and fuel switching, alongside funding from the Scottish Green Public Sector Estate Decarbonisation Scheme, which provides capital grants and interest-free loans for public sector decarbonisation projects.
Health boards are continuing to upgrade their estates with measures including solar photovoltaic installations, air source heat pumps, LED lighting and battery energy storage systems, reducing carbon emissions while lowering energy costs.
The transition also extends to transport, with more than half of NHS Scotland's fleet cars now electric vehicles, while some health boards have almost fully electrified their fleets.
As the first UK health service to undertake a net zero pledge, NHS Scotland is focused on modernising its methods and infrastructure.
“It all serves to underline a fierce commitment to achieving climate change targets for both the environment and the economy,” said Fiona Schaefer, Innovation Commercialisation Manager at InnoScot Health.
Among recent projects, Vital Energi has delivered energy efficiency schemes for NHS Borders, NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Tayside and NHS Forth Valley, including LED lighting upgrades, solar arrays, heat recovery systems and battery energy storage.
InnoScot Health also highlighted wider sustainability initiatives across the sector, including work with Design HOPES (Healthy Organisations in a Place-based Ecosystem, Scotland), which has supported the development of biodegradable and reusable textile products, including theatre caps for NHS Scotland.
The organisation said it continues to support sustainability-focused innovation following the launch of its sustainability innovation call in 2022, including projects such as the Green Ward Toolkit, which is designed to help clinical and non-clinical teams introduce more sustainable practices in hospital wards.
"The strategy reflects our own sustainable ambitions for greener healthcare by leveraging both in-house and external know-how from across different sectors,” added Schaefer.
