Our sustainable development objectives
Progress to date
Since we first developed an SDMP in 2008, we have made progress in a number of areas, including:
- Meeting the target of a 10% reduction in carbon emissions
- Improving our recycling of waste
- New Leaf in Exminster (our vocational rehabilitation service) was awarded most innovative NHS Forest of the Year in 2009
- Invested in improving the energy efficiency of our buildings and in reducing loss of water
- Provided pool cars and hire vehicles to support more sustainable means of travel
- Introduced the cyclescheme for staff and improved facilities for cyclists at some of our sites
- Developed the use of teleconferencing and video conferencing to reduce business mileage.
Our objectives
Following a self-assessment of progress with our sustainable development aims the steering group identified key areas for action. We will ensure:
- Our governance arrangements for sustainable development are clear and accountable
- Our vision for sustainable development is clear and well communicated
- We support our staff by promoting awareness, supporting behavioural change, encouraging new ways of working, low carbon travel and use of ICT
- Our approach to environmental and social responsibility is understood and supported by people who use our services and local communities
- We work with other local organisations to develop a whole systems approach to sustainable development
- We understand the risks that climate change presents to our services and have an adaptation plan
- We deliver our services from environments which are low carbon, promote health and wellbeing, and are resilient to changes in climate
- We provide integrated care that is simple to use, convenient and easy to access
- Sustainability is a core principle in all our purchasing decisions
- We will reduce our carbon emissions by saving on energy, travel, water and waste.
Reducing our carbon footprint
We have already successfully achieved a 10% reduction in carbon emissions and the challenge now is to achieve a further 24% reduction by 2020. We need to save 942 tonnes of CO2 emissions over the next six years to achieve the target of a 34% reduction by 2020. The two main areas where we will do this are in our energy use and business travel.