Stockport NHS Foundation Trust has confirmed a major new plan to become carbon neutral and to help build a sustainable future for the environment.

A new Green Plan was officially ratified at the most recent board meeting of the trust, which runs Stepping Hill Hospital and community NHS services across Stockport. The plan sets out the trust’s commitment to protecting the environment, in both its capacity a large local organisation and employer, and one which seeks to look after and improve health for local people.

The plan commits the trust to a series of bold new targets to reduce its carbon emissions, and their consequent impact on the environment. These include:- 

• Reducing greenhouse emissions by 85% by 2032,
• a 75% cut in business travel emissions by 2030,
• cutting out sending waste to landfill sites,
• all trust vehicles being converted to ultra low or zero emission,
• phasing out single use plastics,
• purchases taking into account ‘social value weighting’ (assessing the environmental impact of all new products),
• and achieving a ‘net zero’ carbon footprint by 2040

Recent steps already taken have included the introduction of four new electric vans, which are now transporting goods such as prescriptions, post and pathology samples to and from the hospital, reducing the carbon emissions released on the road. New charge points for visitor and staff electric vehicles have also been installed. Other projects have included those around waste management, with a number of new recycling stations placed across the hospital site. 

Paul Featherstone, Director of Estates for Stockport NHS Foundation Trust said “We are the second largest employer in Stockport, and we are committed to improving the health of our local population, both of which make tackling climate change and other environmental threats vital. Our new Green Plan sets out a very clear set of goals which we intend to meet so we can live up to this responsibility. We’ve already made a positive start, and we intend to build on these achievements in the coming years to make sure we’re looking after both the local and the global environment. ”

If you`d like to read the plan in full it is available on the About Us page of our website.