Sustainable Development
Lead Analyst: Imogen Tennison
Climate change is arguably the largest health threat that faces us. The NHS has recognised the importance of mitigating climate change with the publication of the NHS SDU Saving Carbon, Improving Health: NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy.
The first action identified in the NHS Carbon Reduction strategy is for all NHS organisations to have a Board approved Sustainable Development Management Plan. Developing and reviewing progress on sustainable development is key in monitoring performance. The NHS Good Corporate Citizen assessment test provides a set of process measures for action on sustainable development.
We now know that the NHS in England produces 18 million tonnes of CO2 a year and reducing these emissions forms an integral part of sustainable development. Reporting and understanding the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for each NHS organisation is an important step in reducing carbon emissions.
ERPHO is the Association of Public Health Observatories national lead observatory for sustainable development. We will be working closely with the Sustainable Development Unit of the NHS to review how information on carbon emissions can be included in decision making across the NHS.
This page brings together both regional and national reports and resources.
 | Latest additions, news and events |
International context
The United Nations Climate Change Conference started 7 December 2009 in Copenhagen. The largest and most important UN climate change conference in history, with diplomats from 192 nations warned that this could be the best, last chance for a deal to protect the world from calamitous global warming.
NHS metrics
Measuring sustainable development progress is a key step in informing decision making. The good indicators guide identifies three roles for indicators:
- for understanding : to know how a system works and how it might be improved (research role)
- for performance : monitoring if and how a system is performing to an agreed standard (performance/ managerial/improvement role)
- for accountability : allowing us to hold ourselves up to patients, the government and taxpayers and be openly scrutinised as individuals, teams and organisations (accountability/democratic role).
This project overview brief provides a roadmap for the development of sustainable development metrics to fulfil these three roles. In addition there is an outline from the Defra reporting guidance and how the ERPHO sustainable development metrics projects fit into this context.
 | Background and Methodology |
 | Data and analysis |
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For more information on what the NHS is doing visit the Sustainable Development Unit
Get your organisation involved go to NHS Good Corporate Citizen