The climate crisis is a health emergency. That's why the NHS became the first health service in the world to commit to reaching net zero; by 2040 for the emissions it controls directly, and by 2045 for the emissions it influences.
This announcement comes as the UK marked Clean Air Day, highlighting that up to 36,000 deaths occur every year as a result of poor air quality, disproportionately affecting our poorest and most vulnerable communities.
North East London, in particular, has 7 of the 10 worst air quality ratings in the UK and none of our sites fall below the World health organisation acceptable limits.
Adam Toll, Sustainability and Net Zero Lead said:
‘With air pollution alone contributing to 1 in 20 deaths in this country a year, it is clear we are facing a health emergency as well as a climate emergency. Our ELFT Green Plan is a testament to our staff's commitment to tackling climate change, and we are proud to set out the positive actions we will take to reduce our impact on the environment and safeguard the future health of our children and grandchildren.’
We are working hard to help staff make a cleaner, greener choice of travelling by installing new electric vehicle charging points across our estate, this year at Appleby Health Centre, Primrose Resource Centre and Twinwoods.
Where onsite installations are not possible we will look to partner with our ICS colleagues and local councils to offer EV infrastructure as close to our sites as possible on the local highways.
For cleaner air, we also encourage staff members to consider taking public transportation or cycling during their commute whenever possible, as we continue developing our secured bicycle shelter installations across our Trust.
Other areas we are working on include rewilding areas of ELFT estate and improving the EV offerings on car lease and salary sacrifice schemes.
Visit the Action for Clean Air website to find out how you can get involved this year.
Read ELFT's Green Plan which sets out the steps we are taking to reach net zero.