A new sustainability action plan made by Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has been recognised for its efforts after being announced as a finalist for a top national award. 
The prestigious IWFM Impact Awards 2024 have officially listed their finalists for this year, with the Net Zero Northumbria team being nominated in the Positive Climate Action – Towards Net Zero category.
The IWFM (Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management) Impact Awards is the workplace and facilities management industry’s most prestigious event, celebrating and showcasing outstanding best practice and ingenuity from the profession.
The trust launched its Net Zero Northumbria action plan in early 2024 to help tackle climate change and achieve net zero status by 2040. The two-year plan sets out the commitment of the trust to reaching net zero for its carbon emissions. The plan incorporates sustainability pledges on different areas of the trust including buildings & estates, travel, waste, healthcare and people. Currently, the NHS contributes to around 4-5% of the UK’s total carbon emissions.
There have been many projects completed over the past year that contribute to the Net Zero action plan including the completion of a major decarbonisation project at North Tyneside General Hospital. This project aims to reduce carbon emissions by 75%.
Most recently, the trust has signed a commitment alongside the North East Ambulance Service to stop the idling of ambulances after patient drop-off at Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital. The commitment aims to reduce the number of vehicles that leave their engines running whilst stationary and this has been introduced into staff and public car parks also.
Reflecting on the news of being finalists, head of sustainability, Clare Winter said: “Being finalists in the Towards Net Zero category is a brilliant achievement and a huge testament to the work done over the past year to improve our sustainability efforts as a trust.
“This achievement not only encompasses the work of the sustainability team but also wider staff within our trust who have supported our developments and have embraced change in order to contribute to our net zero goal.”
Future projects planned in line with the trust’s net zero action plan include advancing waste management processes and expanding their ‘Net Zero Hero’ programme which is a group staff can join. Members are passionate about improving sustainability in the trust and want to reduce environmental impacts in their departments.
The award ceremony will be held on Monday 14 October in London, and we would like to wish good luck to the sustainability team and all the other finalists.