31st March 2022
Dear Newcastle Hospitals’ supplier,
As the first healthcare organisation in the world to declare a climate emergency, we have set an ambitious target to reach Net Zero for our carbon footprint by 2030 and for our carbon footprint plus by 2040. This footprint plus includes emissions from our supply chain, which are estimated to account for more than 65% of our total carbon footprint. This is an extension to the NHS England’s plan to reach Net Zero by 2045. The same plan includes the commitment that by 2030 the NHS will not procure from any supplier that does not have its own Net Zero target.
In addition to NHS policy, there are many other drivers for working with supply chain members that are committed to fighting climate change. The UK Government’s social value model and associated procurement policy notes (PPN 06/20 and 06/21) require organisations to outline action to fight climate change and published carbon reduction plans. Even though a range of procurement thresholds, timescales and exceptions apply, it is clear that the drivers for sustainable procurement are increasing.
At Newcastle Hospitals, we have developed a sustainability partnership award winning five-step process to proactively engage and support all suppliers, from the smallest to largest.
This enables us to expand reporting and action beyond our own organisational carbon footprint (scope 1 and 2) and proactively engage with supply chain members to report and reduce the wider carbon footprint plus (scope 3) emissions to Net Zero by 2040. This programme is aligned to the NHS Evergreen Supplier Framework and the NHSEI Net Zero supplier roadmap.
We would really like to work with our suppliers to reduce the impact of our purchased goods and services. We want to collaborate with and support supply chain members across a wide spectrum of sizes and sectors, whilst recognising the needs of micro, small and medium sized enterprises. We want to engage with suppliers that are decarbonising their own organisations and are asking suppliers to provide their carbon footprint data to us. We would like to stress that it does not matter what stage you are at on your low carbon journey, even if you haven’t started yet, we would welcome your engagement, honest answers and opinions.
Over 500 suppliers have already engaged so far. Whether you have engaged already, or you are new to the process, we would love to hear from you.
Thank you for participating in this important endeavour and we look forward to working with you on this ambitious initiative to reach Net Zero Carbon by 2040.
Kind regards,
The sustainability and procurement teams at Newcastle Hospitals
James Dixon,CEnv FIEMA FRSA, Associate director of sustainability – [email protected]
Dan Shelley, FCIPS Chartered CCMAP, Procurement and supply chain director – [email protected]
