How can 2.8 million pairs of feet make less of a footprint?

With 1.3 million employees and 1.5 million patients travelling to and from NHS facilities every day, it's no wonder that 5% of the UK's transportation related carbon emissions are attributable to the organisation. So how can we protect the health of our nation, without damaging the health of our planet? These are exactly the sort of questions our leaders are tackling every day.

As the world's fourth largest employer and Europe's biggest single organisation, it's not surprising that the NHS is responsible for over 18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per annum - the largest public sector contributor to climate change.. But what can be done to reduce this by at least 600,000 tonnes if it is to meet its target for 2050?

Sustainable development

The Department of Health has a strong commitment to the government's agenda for "Sustainable Development". Although climate change is the most serious global environmental threat, promoting new, modern, sustainable ways of living, working, producing and travelling also stand to achieve wider benefits to human health and well-being. The environment in which people live and work has a key influence on their health. Environmental considerations must therefore be taken into account when building or adapting facilities in which NHS services are delivered.

Click here to find out more about the Department of Health's commitment to Sustainable Development.

Every person and organisation has an obligation to mitigate the effects of climate change, arguably the largest health threat that faces us. The ambition of the NHS is to be the most visible and effective public sector exemplar in sustainable development in general and carbon reduction in particular. To do this, it needs to operate economically, conscious of its core role in delivering safe and cost effective health care, whilst simultaneously operating economically and ethically, recognising its broader obligations to the health of the population and the planet as a good corporate citizen.

This NHS Sustainable Development Unit (NHS SDU) for England is a small unit of 6 people in Cambridge who provide leadership, support and policy input to ensure the NHS in England is the leading public sector organisation in promoting sustainable development and mitigating climate change. To find out more sustainable development activity in the NHS, visit the website: http://www.sdu.nhs.uk

What we are doing for the wider NHS?

The NHS Confederation has recently produced a report Taking the temperature: Towards an NHS response to global warming (PDF) which examines the implications of climate change for human health and the NHS, the current targets and how NHS organisations are rising to the challenge.

Good Corporate Citizenship describes how NHS organisations can embrace sustainable development and tackle health inequalities through their day-to-day activities. This means using NHS organisations' corporate powers and resources in ways that benefit rather than damage the social, economic and environmental conditions in which we live. How the NHS behaves - as an employer, a purchaser of goods and services, a manager of transport, energy, waste and water, as a landholder and commissioner of building work and as an influential neighbour in many communities - can make a big difference to people's health and to the well being of society, the economy and the environment. Find out more at http://www.corporatecitizen.nhs.uk

Click here to read about real examples of the NHS leading the way in fighting climate change.