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Worcestershire Acute NHS Trust sought to get a baseline of its Scope 3 emissions to act as a benchmark from which to measure progress on its Green plan. To help it meet the NHS’s ambition to be the world’s first carbon-neutral health service by 2040, it turned to a brand-new specialist carbon mapping tool developed by NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS).
- NHS SBS’s Carbon Specialist Mapping Service efficiently and effectively maps an NHS organisation’s “Scope 3” emissions –notoriously the most difficult of all emissions to map
- Following the pilot’s success, NHS SBS has further enhanced its carbon mapping tool. It can be tailored for and replicated to report at ICS level and drill down into individual trusts.
“As data availability grows and is combined with financial information, the value and significance of the information will drive results that benefit the trust financially whilst making a significant difference to our carbon footprint and ultimately, help reduce the damaging choices we make.”
Stephen Carter, Head of Procurement
Worcestershire Acute NHS Trust
The Challenge
To deliver on Green Plans, NHS organisations must first uncover their current emissions baseline – a task which has previously been time-consuming.
The NHS in England has committed to reach net zero by 2040 for direct emissions (Scope 1) and indirect emissions from the purchase and use of electricity, steam, heating and cooling (Scope 2). In 2045, this will expand to encompass CO2 emissions it influences (Scope 3 – supply chain emissions).
All NHS organisations are required to have a Green Plan, the basis from which to chart their journey to carbon net zero and to report on their progress. Central to this is knowing what their current carbon footprint is – their emissions baseline. But for many, assessing this can be difficult, timely and expensive.
HSJ reports indicate at least one-third of the largest trusts have not measured their baseline, and as much as two-thirds of a trust’s carbon impact could be found in “Scope 3” – supply chain emissions.
But given the millions of pounds of procurement spend and thousands of suppliers in any given year, it can be a challenging area to analyse. Trusts often struggle to gather the data in a verifiable way.
If NHS organisations are unable to work with suppliers in line with the net zero agenda, this could have a significant negative impact on overall emissions.
The Solution
A Carbon Specialist Mapping Service that efficiently and effectively maps an NHS organisation’s “Scope 3” emissions.
Worcestershire Acute NHS Trust is part of the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care System (ICS). It comprises of three hospitals – Alexandra Hospital, Kidderminster Hospital and Treatment Centre and Worcestershire Royal Hospital, providing health and care services to over half a million people.
The trust sought to get a baseline of its Scope 3 emissions to act as a benchmark from which to measure progress in its Green Plan. It approached NHS SBS for a solution.
As a partner to the trust through the provision of Finance & Accounting services, combined with human expertise and a sustainability team, NHS SBS was in a unique position to support, and developed a bespoke carbon mapping tool to pilot with the trust’s three hospitals.
The tool extracts procurement/supplier spend data to create
and analyse a carbon footprint for the trust’s supply chain
CO2 emissions.
The Carbon Specialist Mapping Service provided by NHS SBS can efficiently and effectively map an NHS organisation’s “Scope 3” emissions – that is, the carbon emissions derived from the goods and services produced in the organisation’s supply chain, notoriously the most difficult of all emissions to map.
The Result
NHS SBS’s carbon mapping tool:
- Calculated Worcestershire Acute NHS Trust’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions baseline figure (tCo2e) from its entire supply chain. The trust can both report on this and, going forward, use it as a benchmark from which to measure its Scope 3 emissions progress on its journey to net zero
- Analysed the trust’s 1,877 suppliers, identifying the top ten emitters and calculating that they account for 63% of its Scope 3 emissions
- Highlighted key suppliers to target for greater engagement in the organisation’s net zero goals
- Provided the trust with a robust analysis of spend data related to Scope 3, with clear recommendations on next steps to deliver carbon reduction in the supply chain
- The pilot means the automation of a previously labour-intensive task, including painstaking data extraction, exporting, importing, cleansing and analysis, can now be achieved swiftly and delivered at scale. This includes providing an outputs report with clear, actionable insights and recommendations
“With myriad different offerings and calculations available through a vast array of suppliers, it was important for our trust to have a figure and calculation it could trust and use reliably moving forward.”
Stephen Carter, Head of Procurement
Worcestershire Acute NHS Trust
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Carbon Mapping Specialist Services
Our team of specialists review your data to provide a clear supply chain scope 3.1 emissions figure and insights report.
Our unique experience and in-depth knowledge of the NHS landscape across procurement, finance and sustainability means we understand the challenges you face, and have the expertise to deliver actionable insights that truly add value. This means you can map carbon savings against cost savings year-on-year and make progress on your journey to Net .
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