Northampton General Hospital earns global silver sustainability status

Northampton General Hospital is leading the way in the UK after gaining the country’s only silver award in the 2020 Health Care Climate Challenge Champion Awards.

The awards, which celebrate health care facilities across the world working to reduce their climate footprint, have announced Northampton General Hospital’s winning status of silver in the 2017 awards for their reduction in greenhouse gasses.

The awards form part of the 2020 challenge, a global pledge for healthcare organisations to reduce their climate footprint and work towards greener healthcare provision.

As part of the 2020 programme and awards recognition organisations including Northampton General Hospital have signed up to collectively reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 16 million tons of CO2e by the year 2020. This pledge will provide healthcare organisations taking part in the scheme with a communal saving of over $318 million dollars globally.

Using ideas such as putting in a biomass boiler using locally sourced wood, putting sensors on the lights and optimising the Building Management System the local hospital has already seen a reduction in emissions from over 15,000 tonnes in 2011 to 9155 tonnes in 2017.

Clare Topping, Energy and Sustainability Manager at NGH, described how this award shows the commitment to being a driver of change in sustainable energy usage in the UK: “The NHS is already making huge strides to reduce its environmental impact, but this award shows that NGH is also helping to showcase this on a global scale.  We will continue to work towards our local and national targets to reduce our emissions from our buildings”.