Update on Carbon Management

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1 Trust Board 5 August 2010 Update on Carbon Management For: Trust Board Information Summary: This information paper sets out the statutory framework for managing a Trusts carbon footprint and outlines the plans to identify reduction opportunities and the way this will be managed and monitored going forward. The Trust Board is asked to note the update on carbon management within the Trust and to specifically support: Action: Presented by: Author: The mobilisation of the Trusts registration with Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Developing an action plan to progress carbon reduction opportunities arising from the Carbon Trusts independent survey of the hospitals facilities The Trusts participation in the Good Corporate Citizen 1 survey The development of the Trusts Sustainability Management Plan, by November 2010 The intention on carbon management within the Trusts 2011 annual report Philip Holmes (Director of Environment & Facilities) Philip Holmes (Director of Environment & Facilities) Please continue notes on 2 nd page if not enough room Notes: Please list number and statement this paper relates to. Trust objective: Revitalising Our Environment Legal: Regulation: What are the legal considerations and implications linked to this item? Please name relevant act 2008 Climate Change Act What aspect of regulation applies and what are the outcome implications? This applies to any regulatory body key regulators include: Care Quality Commission, MHRA, NPSA & Audit Commission Supports improved governance and meets stated requirements in key lines of enquiry (eg: for ALE). 1

2 Date 5 August 2010 Author Philip Holmes (Director of Environment & Facilities) Department Environment and Facilities Audience Trust Board 1.0 Introduction: This report is intended to provide an update around the Trusts current position and the planned opportunities around improving carbon management and specifically the progress around obligations of an NHS acute Trust. In summary the required output of all these various obligations is to initially reduce carbon emissions by 10% by 2015, based upon the 2008 base-line emissions. 2.0 BACKGROUND: The implications of the 2008 Climate Act, sets the seminal statutory framework against which the NHS has set its national targets and expectations. In response to this legislation, the NHS has translated this into a number of separate initiatives and projects, with an initial focus upon the larger Trusts. Examples of these initiatives include: The NHS 10:10 target, which was an optional scheme for Trusts to reduce their carbon by 10%, during E.U.E.T.S. European Union Emissions Trading Scheme 2 this was a scheme aimed at the very large institutions to encourage a Europe wide carbon trading market. This scheme has lost some credibility lately within the NHS, due to the administrative burden and its future is unknown. The NHS has developed its own Sustainability Development Unit 3 (SDU) to provide specialist advice and best practice sharing for the NHS and is the central co-ordination and driver for change within the NHS. The Environment Agency has the responsibility for monitoring compliance and it has stated its intention to apply a light touch during the early stages of implementation. The NHS is required to reduce greenhouse gases by 26% by 2020 and by 80% by The Trust Board should be aware that the carbon management agenda is a challenging activity and no Trust has found this to be a soft target. This has been principally due to the fact that a great deal of the changes requires people to change their custom and practices, ie personal travel, waste recycling, lighting and heating controls. This is also compounded by the fact that the more major opportunities often require capital investment through either internal or external sources

3 Whilst Carbon Management responsibility tends to often rest with a Trusts engineering or estates related functions, the research has shown that the opportunities are exceptional broad. Fig 1: extract from SDU 4 showing the anticipated national impact of the 2008 Climate Change Act 3.0 CURRENT POSITION: 3.01 Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC): Whilst it is somewhat unclear whether SaSH will be included within the CRC s initial wave of Trusts who are required to register by the 1 September deadline, SaSH has already seized this as a positive opportunity and started its registration with the CRC during May This registration will see SaSH either achieving full registration or as a participant (if it is found to be below the annual electrical consumption threshold of 6,000 MW pa). The CRC process is intended to provide a national kick start to support and focus Trusts for the challenging journey ahead and SaSH will be able to benefit from an initial national benchmarking of its energy consumption position. Following on from the above early registration a series of independent carbon surveys, partly funded by the Carbon Trust will be taking place on 26, 27 & 28 July The result of the Carbon Trust surveys will help inform and influence some of the Corporate Environment and Social Reporting (CESR) groups activities, although some of the workforce, procurement and travel reduction opportunities, may benefit less from the Carbon Trust surveys Known and envisaged opportunities: During April 2010 the Trust invited staff to propose ideas for reducing our carbon footprint and these are to be progressed with a series of local 4

4 projects and are being prioritised with the highest impact/ lowest cost objective Available capital funding: The current 2010/11 programme and beyond has not yet identified any possible funding for the CRC activities. The current aim is that the savings will be reinvested, either partly or fully to progress the opportunities through a priority evaluation of their respective ROI s and through the use of a Marginal Abatement Cost planning tool. 4.0 OBLIGATIONS: Apart from a Trusts obvious moral and CSR responsibilities around the environment, there are a number of other more formal obligations and these are briefly listed below: 4.01 Obtain Trust support for carbon management: This approval was obtained in principle through the adoption of the sustainable development statement during March Complete the full registration with the CRC: subject to the size of a Trusts annual electrical consumption, eligible Trusts should register with the CRC by the 1 September and SaSH registered with the CRC during May Development a Trust approved Sustainable Development Management Plan by October The results of the ongoing CRC site surveys will inform the SDMP and more importantly the areas of focus Develop targets and action plans: similarly once the CRC survey and the SDMP is in place the recently created Corporate Environment and Social Responsibility CESR) group will track and report progress against the key activities. The results from this will be reported to the Management Board (Performance) Governance and responsibilities: the Executive responsibility for this programme rests with the Director or Environment and Facilities, and this will be shared with the work stream leads, once identified In summary the required output of all these various obligations is to initially reduce SaSH s carbon emissions by 10% by 2015, based upon the 2008 base-line emissions. 5.0 NEXT STEPS: 5.01 Carbon Trust survey: The detailed results of the July Carbon Trusts surveys will be reviewed by the Trusts CESR group and prioritised into separate work stream projects, with project leads. Whilst it is not yet possible to be wholly prescriptive, the experience from other organisations suggests that the anticipated head lines for the activities are likely to be around: Energy and carbon management (this accounts for around 22% of emissions through the areas listed below) Procurement and Food (this accounts for 60% of energy used within the NHS)

5 Travel (this accounts for around 18% of emissions) Table 1 - extract from SDU publication showing the national position Associated activities: Water Waste Built environment Organisational and workforce development Partnerships and networks Governance Finance Looking ahead Improving health & well being notably by increasing physical activity, promoting a better diet, improving mental health and reducing obesity 5.02 Sustainable Development Management Plan (SDMP): The Trust should have an approved SDMP in place by October The intention is that this will be informed through the input from a multi-disciplinary approach to the CRC and submitted to the Trusts Management Board (Performance) for approval. This represents a system wide commitment to carbon reduction and will position this as being a truly multi-disciplinary responsibility, which will need to be embedded into the Trusts routine investment and day to day decision making processes Corporate Environment Social Responsibility (CESR) activities: The activities of the Corporate Environment and Sustainability Responsibility group will be the vehicle which will be used to identify, consolidate and progress Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), CRC and all other similar related projects and schemes. As mentioned earlier a great deal of the CRC agenda is neither technical or estates related and this working group and its sub-groups, seems the

6 ideal group to encourage the various disciplines to work together and see the synergies from their work. It is anticipated that a significant portion of this work is already taking place in one form or another, but it is not being reported as having a CRC benefit, ie travel policy, flexible working and procurement Communicate the Trusts ongoing commitment to the Environment: The key to moving forward is to now start measuring the starting position against the areas listed within 4.01 above and this will be included within the Sustainable Management Development Plan. 6.0 PROPOSED MONITORING: 6.01 Management Board (Performance): until the opportunities have been independently identified it is not possible to be definitive about the detailed action planning, although a typical Trusts should be aiming for a minimum of 3% reduction of its energy consumption to achieve the required targets. Similarly the various other sustainability activities will require their own set of metrics and measures and once the results of the initial CRC survey is completed and considered by the CESR, the base line positions are unknown Satisfying the ALE requirements: given that the Audit Commission has a clear set of expectations, such as: Understand and quantify the use of natural resources Management performance to reduce the impact on the environment Manage environment al risk, working effectively with partners It is envisaged that the Audit Commission requirements will be satisfied through the set of outline actions detailed above Financial risks: it is important to note that subject to the CRC registration, that the Trust may find it necessary to purchase carbon credits to maintain its current level of energy consumption, or decide to escalate its carbon reduction plans. The implications of this should be known nationally by October RECOMMENDATIONS: The Trust Board is asked to note the update on carbon management within the Trust and to specifically support: The mobilisation of the Trusts registration with Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Developing an action plan to progress carbon reduction opportunities arising from the Carbon Trusts independent survey of the hospitals facilities The Trusts participation in the Good Corporate Citizen 5 survey The development of the Trusts Sustainability Management Plan, by November 2010 The intention on carbon management within the Trusts 2011 annual report 5

7 Philip Holmes Director of Environment and Facilities August 2010 Appendices: 1 SDU 2008 Climate Change Act Briefing Note:

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