The 2024-25 Sustainable Healthcare in Newcastle (Shine) annual report maps out progress against our Climate Emergency Strategy, including our ambitious goal to become net zero by 2030.
For the first time, we have also set out how we will reduce the environmental impact of our waste in a waste and resources management strategy.
The latest annual report highlights improvements against current targets, including:
- A three percent decrease in the trust’s NHS carbon footprint. These are emissions which the trust directly controls, including fossil fuel burning for heating, transport and electricity, waste, and emissions from anaesthetic gases and inhalers. Since 2019/20, this footprint has reduced overall by thirteen percent
- Use of anaesthetic gas has significantly reduced since 2019/20 by almost 3,000 tonnes of CO2e (a 69 percent reduction)
- The Born Green Generation project in maternity services has resulted in discontinuing plastic urine samples pots and switching to disposable cardboard placenta bins
- The trust has been awarded the highest status (green) by Investors in the Environment. The independent accreditation scheme recognises organisations that have demonstrated significant progress in reducing environmental impact.
Major investment despite challenges
Despite progress, we are still not reducing our carbon emissions fast enough.
The ‘red flag’ challenges identified in our 2021-22 report remain but are continually reviewed by the trust board and by a quarterly sustainable healthcare committee.
Our commitment to sustainable healthcare was bolstered earlier this year when we were awarded the second largest NHS grant as part of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS).
The £40m grant, from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), will be used to decarbonise Freeman Hospital and community sites at Benfield Park and Ponteland Road Health Centre.
It’s anticipated that the project will save over 9,300 tonnes of CO2e per year, including over 2,700 tonnes through improvements to building fabric and energy efficiency.
A further £700,000 to support the installation of solar panels at the Freeman Hospital site is expected to save around £100,000 a year and reduce carbon emissions by 80 tonnes a year.
Waste as a resource
For the first time, we’ve formalised our commitment to reducing environmental impact from waste through a dedicated waste and resources strategy.
In the strategy, we outline how we will reduce overall volume of waste and increase the amount of waste recycled.
The strategy also calls for a move towards the circular economy- a system where products and materials are kept in circulation through processes like maintenance, reuse, refurbishment, and recycling. We marked a commitment to this approach by signing up to the Circular Economy Healthcare Alliance earlier this year.
Vicky McFarlane Reid, executive director lead for sustainability, said:
“It’s encouraging that we’ve made some progress over the last year, including a reduction in our carbon footprint and introducing more sustainable equipment in maternity services as part of the Born Green Generation project.
“Although we have made some progress, we know there is still more to do to address the challenges that we identified in previous reports.
“We hope that, with funding for some major improvements to our buildings and a dedicated waste and resource management strategy, we can move forward towards our net zero by 2030 goal.”
