NHS England

The National Health Service (NHS) in England provides publicly funded health services – including hospital, ambulance, community, mental health and primary care – and is Europe’s largest employer.  NHS England provides national leadership for the NHS. In 2020, the NHS became the world’s first health system to commit to reaching net zero emissions, with two targets: to be net zero by 2040 for the emissions it controls directly and to reach net zero by 2045 for the emissions it influences, through the goods and services it buys. Thanks to the actions of its workforce, the NHS has already reduced its emissions by 30% since 2010, ahead of the UK Climate Change Act target – and all NHS organisations in England now have a ‘green plan’ setting out how they will reduce emissions in line with the national target.

NHS England is working with the WHO to share learning on decarbonising healthcare and is technical co-chair of the ATACH supply chain working group.

Supporting the following commitments:

• Set a target date by which to achieve health systems net zero emissions (ideally by 2050).
• Deliver a baseline assessment of greenhouse gas emissions of the health system (including supply chains).
• Develop an action plan or roadmap by a set date to develop a sustainable low carbon health system (including supply chains).