Top ten ideas for reducing your carbon footprint in the healthcare sector.

Our Healthcare Business Consultant has worked with hundreds of healthcare businesses, to support them with reducing their carbon footprint.

Reducing the carbon footprint in the healthcare sector is essential for promoting sustainability, conserving resources, and enhancing public health. Here are ten effective pointers for healthcare organizations to implement to reduce their carbon footprint:

1. Energy Efficiency Initiatives for reducing your carbon footprint

• Upgrades to Facilities:

For those with physical buildings you can invest in energy-efficient lighting, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems or implement smart building technologies to monitor and control energy usage effectively.

• Energy Audits:

You can also conduct regular energy audits to identify areas where energy consumption can be reduced, before building a strategy to implement recommended improvements.

2. Sustainable Transportation for reducing your carbon footprint

• Promote Active Transport:

Our staff and patients play a critical role. We need to encourage staff and patients to use bikes or walk by providing secure bike storage at work, showers, and changing facilities where possible, especially when operating from a set care facility.

• Public Transport Incentives:

You can also offer incentives for using public transport, such as subsidized travel passes or shuttle services from major transit hubs.

3. Waste Reduction and Recycling

• Implement Waste Management Practices:

You can adopt practices for reducing, reusing, and recycling materials and ensure proper disposal of hazardous waste to comply with environmental regulations.

• Minimize Single-Use Items:

Furthermore, you can reduce reliance on single-use plastics and disposable materials by opting for reusable alternatives wherever possible. Try offering your staff a reusable water bottle for example.

4. Green Procurement Policies

• Sustainable Sourcing:

As a healthcare provider you can establish procurement policies that prioritize purchasing environmentally friendly and sustainably sourced products, including medical supplies and equipment. Critical for protecting our environment and showing your staff how they can also make individual impact.

• Local Sourcing:

Whenever possible, source products locally to reduce transportation emissions associated with the supply chain. This buy local agenda also supports businesses in your local community and support social value and economic benefit when bidding for government contracts.

5. Reduce Water Usage

• Water-Efficient Fixtures:

For those with a physical building you can install low-flow faucets, toilets, and showerheads to reduce water consumption in healthcare facilities.

6. Encourage Telemedicine and Remote Services for reducing your carbon footprint

• Utilize Telehealth:

All healthcare providers now need to be seriously considering the promotion of telemedicine services to reduce the need for travel, lowering the carbon footprint associated with patient transportation. Post Covid this has become even more important.

• Remote Consultations:

Certainly, now more than ever, healthcare providers are implementing remote consultations and follow-up appointments, where suitable, to enhance convenience and reduce travel emissions.

7. Staff Engagement and Training

• Sustainability Training:

All companies not just those in the healthcare sector have a responsibility to provide training for staff on sustainability practices and the importance of reducing carbon footprints in healthcare.

• Green Champions:

You can even establish a “Green Champions” program within the organization, empowering employees to lead sustainability initiatives and raise awareness.

8. Carbon Offsetting

• Invest in Offsetting Projects:

You can start to look at identifying relevant carbon offset programs, such as tree planting or renewable energy projects, and invest in them to compensate for unavoidable emissions.

• Measure Carbon Footprint:

To allow you to understand your impact, you should start to regularly measure and report on the organization’s carbon footprint as part of an overall sustainability strategy.

9. Implement Renewable Energy Solutions

• Solar and Wind Energy:

We can all, not just as business owners but as members of society, explore the feasibility of investing in renewable energy sources such as solar panels or wind turbines. This could be a great source of energy to power healthcare facilities for those with physical buildings.

• Green Energy Contracts:

You can also choose energy contracts that source electricity from renewable sources, supporting the transition to cleaner energy.

10. Sustainability in Design and Construction

• Green Building Standards:

When constructing new buildings or renovating existing ones, you should adhere to green building certification standards for sustainability and energy efficiency.

• Sustainable Landscaping:

Implement landscaping practices that promote biodiversity, use native plants, and minimize water usage.

On conclusion, by implementing these ten pointers, you can significantly reduce your carbon footprint and contribute to a more sustainable future. Each initiative helps you to promote environmental stewardship while enhancing operational efficiency and potentially reducing costs, a win, win, right?

As the healthcare sector continues to adapt to the challenges posed by climate change, these strategies can foster a healthier environment for both our patients and the communities we serve.  It doesn’t stop there though, without goals and KPIs these ideas are just that. Ideas.

Let’s discuss some ideas for KPIs for your healthcare company.

Establishing KPIs to measure the effectiveness of your initiatives aimed at reducing the carbon footprint in your healthcare business is vital for tracking progress and demonstrating accountability. Here are Jill’s suggested KPIs that can help you assess your business’s sustainability efforts:

1. Energy Consumption Metrics

• Total Energy Consumption:

Measure the total energy use (in kWh) of your facility on a monthly or annual basis. This allows you to then track reductions in energy consumption over time.

• Energy Use Intensity (EUI):

Calculate the energy used per square meter of the facility or per patient visit, allowing for comparisons across facilities and time periods. Especially important for those who run care homes or hospitals for example.

2. Carbon Emissions Reduction

• Total Carbon Footprint:

Calculate the total carbon emissions produced by your company (in CO₂ equivalents) from operations, transport, and waste management. Monitor changes in emissions over time. In the UK the local authorities in your area will provide a template for doing so. If you’re bidding on local authority contracts, they will expect you to report on these figures too.

• Carbon Emissions per Service User:

Measure the carbon footprint per patient treated or per service provided to assess the efficiency of care delivery in relation to environmental impact.

3. Waste Management and Recycling helps with reducing your carbon footprint.

• Total Waste Generated:

Track the total amount of waste produced by your company (in kilograms) and aim for reductions over time. You could try becoming a paperless service for example.

• Recycling Rate:

Calculate the percentage of total waste that is recycled. The goal is to increase the proportion of waste diverted from landfills over time.

4. Water Usage

• Water Consumption:

Measure the total water usage (in liters) in your care home/hospital if you have one and track reductions over time.

• Water Use Intensity:

Calculate the water used per patient or per service delivered to assess efficiency in water usage.

5. Sustainable Procurement will help with reducing your carbon footprint

• Percentage of Sustainable Purchases:

Track the percentage of purchased goods and services that meet sustainability criteria, such as being environmentally friendly or locally sourced. This also feeds into your buy local strategy, which in turn provides even more value to local authorities when bidding for their contracts.

• Percentage of Suppliers Evaluated for Sustainability:

Measure the proportion of suppliers assessed for their environmental practices and sustainability policies.

6. Transport and Travel Emissions

• Employee Commute Emissions:

Estimate the carbon emissions associated with employee commuting based on surveys regarding transportation methods used (e.g., car, public transport, biking). You can then implement things like a car share scheme, or bike to work scheme for office workers.

• Reduction in Travel Emissions:

Track reductions in transport-related carbon emissions, particularly from business travel and patient transportation. You could reduce this by using apps like Google Maps to utilize the most fuel-efficient routes.

7. Telehealth Engagement

• Percentage of Consultations Conducted via Telehealth:

Measure the proportion of patient interactions and consultations conducted through telehealth, indicating a reduction in travel-related emissions. This is of huge importance in today’s world and has been considered a key delivery method for the healthcare sector post covid.

• Patient Engagement in Telemedicine:

Track the number of patients utilizing telehealth services compared to in-person visits, promoting reduced carbon footprints.

8. Staff Engagement in Sustainability Programs with help with reducing your carbon footprint.

• Employee Participation Rate:

Measure the percentage of staff involved in sustainability initiatives (e.g., training sessions, energy-saving programs, green teams). You could even have an office budget, or employee benefit for those who go over and above with tracking and reducing their energy use.

• Training Completion Rate:

Assess the percentage of staff trained on sustainability practices and their roles in reducing the carbon footprint. Consider adopting a Sustainability Lead so that your team understand the importance of the work you’re doing.

9. Green Building and Infrastructure Initiatives helps with reducing your carbon footprint

• Investment in Renewable Energy:

Measure the percentage of energy sourced from renewable sources (e.g., solar, wind) compared to total energy use.

10. Community Impact and Engagement

• Community Sustainability Initiatives:

You should monitor participation in local sustainability initiatives (e.g., community clean-ups, tree planting) by staff and the organization. It’s a great team building exercise too.

• Awareness Campaign Reach:

Furthermore, measure the effectiveness of sustainability awareness campaigns within the community and amongst employees by tracking engagement metrics.

In conclusion, by establishing and tracking these KPIs, you can effectively monitor your environmental impact, assess the effectiveness of your sustainability initiatives, and demonstrate your commitment to reducing carbon footprints. Important when bidding on government bids. These indicators can also provide transparent data that can be used to inform decision-making and foster a culture of sustainability within your company.

When joining Safeguard Business Support, we can help assess what sustainability KPIs you should implement, and Jill can help you to create trackers for ease of monitoring and reporting. Join today.