This Guide Describes Why The Sustainability Of Food Is

this guide describes why the sustainability of food is important; provides guidance on what hospitals can do to improve the sustainability of

This guide describes why the sustainability of food is important;
provides guidance on what hospitals can do to improve the
sustainability of the food they provide to patients, staff and
visitors; and advises on how hospitals can assure
the sustainability of their food service provision.
The guide provides practical guidance, signposting and uses case study
examples to illustrate some of the initiatives currently being taken
by the health sector. It highlights cross governmental initiatives
around public sector
food and anticipates the forthcoming Healthier Food Mark, a voluntary
assurance scheme for all public sector organisations that provide
food.
The guidance it contains will help hospitals to respond to a range of
government, departmental and third sector food policy and strategy
initiatives relating to healthier, more sustainable food.
The guide is aimed primarily at catering and procurement staff, but
will also be of use to facilities directors and commissioners when
planning service developments.
This slide pack has been created to support initial communications
about the Procuring for Carbon Reduction (P4CR) programme and
procurement related objectives set out in the NHS Carbon Reduction
Strategy.
Procuring for Carbon Reduction Background:
The NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy launched in January 2009 highlights
the importance of procurement to the carbon reduction agenda in terms
of the significant proportion (60%) of the overall carbon footprint
that is attributable to the goods and services procured by the NHS in
England.
The NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy sets out aspirational targets for
reducing the carbon emissions associated with procurement to support
the UK’s regulatory commitment to reduce UK carbon emissions by 80%
(against a 1990 baseline) by 2050. The strategy recognises the
difficulties in influencing carbon reduction through the supply chains
of the thousands of products and services procured annually and
commits the DH, NHS PASA and the NHS Sustainable Development Unit to
establishing further guidance to support procurers in this task.
Leadership and Governance:
Procuring for Carbon Reduction (P4CR) is a programme that was
initiated in February 2009 to address this commitment. It was clear
from the outset that there was little existing guidance, processes or
examples of how carbon reduction can be systematically and effectively
tackled through procurement. In view of this the P4CR programme has
sought to draw on experience from a range of stakeholders active in
this area, within NHS procurement, other government departments and
third parties such as the Sustainable Development Commission and the
Carbon Disclosure Project.
The P4CR programme is currently led by the Department of Health (DH)
in partnership with the NHS Sustainable Development Unit (NHS SDU).
Aims:
The programme aims to identify and disseminate good practice guidance
across the NHS, test concepts through a series of focussed pilot
projects with NHS organisations and over time gather evidence of
carbon reductions achieved as a result of procurement and supply chain
management activity.
Objectives:
The P4CR programme board has set out the following objectives for the
programme:
1) Provide a high level vision of what needs to be done in terms of
procurement to meet targets set out in NHS CRS
2) Develop guidance for procurement practitioners in how to address
carbon through procurement
3) Develop a range of ‘real life’ case examples that demonstrate
application of concepts within the guidance and tangible measures of
carbon reduction
4) Establish ‘communities’ to enhance dialogue, dissemination and
experience sharing
Stakeholder Engagement:
The P4CR programme is primarily focussed on providing support and
direction for NHS organisations undertaking procurement activity
however, the programme board recognise the potential value of the
programme outputs to other organisations within the health and social
care sector and across the public sector. The programme board further
recognise the value of gaining insight from a wide range of
stakeholders to help inform and shape the programme and its outputs.
[To this end the programme has established a number of discussion
groups to facilitate exchange of views and dissemination of progress
updates and outputs. The programme strongly encourages participation
in these groups.]
The Roadmap:
The P4CR programme has developed a Roadmap (the subject of this slide
pack) setting out the scope, structure and objectives of the programme
as well as providing further detail around the aspirational carbon
reductions associated with NHS procurement through to 2050.
This slide pack outlines the scope and structure of the programme as
well as guideline aspirations, envisaged interventions and
implementation approach.
In identifying the scope of the Procuring for Carbon Reduction
programme we considered the supply chain all the way from the patients
and users back through all tiers of the supply chain. However, to
align with the approach of the NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy the focus
is principally on the supply chain from NHS Provider organisations
back through the tiers of the supply chain excluding Commissioning and
Patient demand.
The NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy, considers carbon emissions from all
stages of production, from extraction through processing, assembly,
storage and distribution in relation to emissions from procurement.
It was recognised that consistency of messages will be required in
communications to providers and commissioners to ensure that the
principles of procuring for carbon reduction are reflected through the
commissioning processes.
The Procuring for Carbon Reduction programme has identified four broad
types of intervention (or action) that procuring organisations can
take to reduce the carbon emissions associated with the goods and
services they procure.
These four types of intervention are central to the P4CR programme and
associated guidance and tools. The four interventions are:
1) Reduce Demand (Demand management) – i.e. buy less
2) Efficiency in Use – i.e. buy products, equipment or services that
consume less through their ‘in use’ life and at disposal (and
consequently reduce carbon emissions associated with those
consumables) – closely linked to whole life cost/total cost of
ownership concepts but with the focus on reducing resource consumption
and related carbon emissions.
3) Substitution and Innovation – i.e. using alternative products,
materials or approaches.
4) Supply Chain Management – i.e. working with the suppliers to
identify reductions in carbon emissions associated with their
processes, activities and procurement decisions.
This slide identifies where in the supply chain these interventions
are likely to realise the greatest benefit (in terms of carbon
reduction and associated financial savings).
The interventions can also be shown as a hierarchy as shown on the
following slide.
This slide shows the four interventions identified on the previous
slide in a hierarchy which is designed to help identify the best
interventions for different products or services being procured.
In general terms those interventions that are higher up the hierarchy
will be easier to implement and will realise greater benefits for the
procuring organisation (in terms of financial savings as well as
carbon reduction).
When identifying their strategy for procurement for carbon reduction,
organisations should consider interventions at the top of the
hierarchy first and work down to other interventions if the higher
interventions have already been implemented or the product or service
situation does not fit the model exactly.
Key elements of the P4CR programme are shown on this slide.
The top time line outlines aspirational carbon reductions through
procurement expressed as percentage reductions against baseline years
– the percentage reductions shown for 2010 and 2015 (in blue) are
based on a 2007 baseline while the percentage reductions shown for
2020 and beyond (in red) are based on a 1990 baseline in line with
national reduction targets enshrined in regulation (Climate Change Act).
More detail is provided on these reduction percentages and what this
means in terms of tonnes of CO2 on the next slide.
Beneath the percentage reduction bar is a diagram which outlines the
key elements of the P4CR programme designed to support delivery of the
identified reductions.
The hierarchy of interventions is represented and the programme
intends to run a series of Pilot studies to demonstrate how
interventions can be used in real procurement situations.
These pilot studies or ‘proofs of concept’ will also inform the
development of guidance materials to cover key aspects of successful
project implementation within procurement organisations.
The P4CR programme has already identified key stakeholders at a
programme level but guidance will be provided to inform this step at
organisational level. In addition it is important for the P4CR
programme to have sufficient resources, sound governance, performance
management and communications arrangements in place.
This slide provides details on what the carbon reduction percentages
outlined on the previous slide equate to in terms of tonnes of CO2 for
the NHS in England.
It should be noted that the UK targets for carbon reductions set out
under the Climate Change Act refer to a baseline year of 1990 where as
the carbon footprint information in the NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy
were based on 2007 data. The NHS carbon emissions related to
procurement have increased significantly from 1990 to 2007 making the
regulatory targets in the Climate Change Act even more challenging.
The second table shows the percentage reductions that the P4CR
programme will refer to and their respective baseline years. This
split between 2007 and 1990 has been done to ensure targets quoted
against the 1990 baseline are consistent with the regulatory framework
but those quoted with a 2007 baseline show opportunity for reduction
in the early years (as opposed to stating negative percentage
reduction which would have been necessary should a 1990 baseline been
applied throughout).
To avoid excessive confusion around the percentages and baselines
applied the third table converts the percentage reductions into tonnes
of CO2 in order to provide a standard measure.
This chart shows the scale of aspirational carbon reductions (in terms
of tonnes of CO2) by plotting the residual total emissions (i.e. 2007
baseline minus tonnes of carbon reduced, leaving the amount of
emissions that would occur in that year).
This chart clearly shows the dramatic reductions in emissions that
will need to be achieved between 2015 and 2020 if the UK regulatory
reduction targets for 2020 are to be met, however this also shows that
achievement of the 2020 target will make overall achievement of the
2050 target viable.
As previously discussed, the P4CR programme is centred around a core
concept of four types of intervention.
This table shows how it is envisaged each of the intervention types
will contribute to the overall aspirational carbon reductions set out
on the previous slides.
It should be noted that ‘Efficiency in Use’ does not show as making
any contribution to the reduction of carbon emissions related to
procurement as any savings arising as a result of this intervention
will tend to be counted within the energy related emissions
attributable to estates or transport operations or reduced demand
(spend) as a result of using fewer consumables.
It is envisaged that reducing demand will deliver the most immediate
impact due to the relative ease of implementation and the immediate
impact that reduced consumption will have on carbon related to
procurement. Simply reducing demand will become harder as time goes on
so the contribution from this intervention will drop off over time.
This intervention is likely to deliver the largest proportion of
carbon reduction in the long term.
Substitution and Innovation is seen as the next intervention to start
to make contributions from 2010 onwards which reflects the time it can
take to introduce and adopt existing best practice. However, it is
predicted that opportunities through innovation in particular will
continue to increase over time, which is reflected in the growth of
emissions savings up to 2050, as well as offering the potential for
the greatest proportion of procurement emissions savings of all four
interventions.
Supply chain management is predicted to follow a similar, but slightly
slower, pattern to substitution and innovation which reflects the
reduced level of influence that procurement can have over supplier
practices and processes, when compared to the other types of
intervention. It is recognised however that this intervention will
contribute a significant proportion of procurement related carbon
reductions.
This chart shows the carbon reductions attributable to each
intervention (as explained on the previous slide). The figures
represent Mt of CO2 reduced on a cumulative basis over time (for
example the 0.6 Mt CO2 reduction made by 2010 for reducing demand is
counted as part of the 2.6 Mt CO2 shown for 2050).
The grey area represents the residual emissions that will still occur
assuming that the aspirational carbon reductions are achieved.
This chart shows the carbon reductions attributable to each
intervention (as explained on the previous slide). The figures
represent Mt of CO2 reduced on a cumulative basis over time (for
example the 0.6 Mt CO2 reduction made by 2010 for reducing demand is
counted as part of the 2.6 Mt CO2 shown for 2050).
The grey bars represent the residual emissions that will still occur
assuming that the aspirational carbon reductions are achieved.
This chart shows the carbon reductions attributable to each
intervention (as explained on the previous slide). The figures
represent Mt of CO2 reduced on a cumulative basis over time (for
example the 0.6 Mt CO2 reduction made by 2010 for reducing demand is
counted as part of the 2.6 Mt CO2 shown for 2050).
This slide shows when key activites of the P4CR programme are
envisaged to take place to support achievement of carbon reductions
through procurement.
Initially the focus will be on testing principles, developing
guidance, and gathering examples of good and best practice.
Engagement of stakeholders to build capacity and capability will
follow with the aim to have procuring for carbon reduction principles
embedded in all organisations by 2015.