Sustainable UHS

University Hospital Southampton has set out its response to the challenge of the NHS becoming the world’s first health service to reach carbon net zero, with the launch of our own Green Plan.

Published to coincide with World Earth Day 2022, the Green Plan sets out the scale of the challenge, our commitment to reducing the impact on the environment and the steps we will collectively take to get there.

Carbon dioxide is one of the most harmful greenhouse gasses. The term carbon emissions is often used as an umbrella term for all greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon net zero means achieving a balance of the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere, and the carbon removed from it.

As the largest employer in Southampton and with an energy consumption equivalent to all the households in Winchester combined, UHS recognises the influence it has on impacting the environment and population we serve.

Environmental change is also a factor in some of the conditions that we treat our patients for such as the impact of air pollution for example. So by taking a proactive role in lessening our impact and being a leading influence in our community, we can go some way to preventing people becoming ill in the first place.

Improving their health and lessening the burden on our organisation and the NHS more broadly is the aim of our Green Plan, through achieving carbon net zero and resulting in healthier lives for our community and our people.

The Green Plan in action

Achieving our ambition to lessen our environmental impact isn’t just the responsibility of the organisation and the changes we can make at a corporate level, it comes down to all of us making informed decisions every day, both at home and at work.

In this short film we hear from our director of estates David Jones and consultant Thom Daniels talking about some of the measures already adopted by UHS, as well as the ways in our staff are being encouraged to play their part at work and at home.