Environmental stewardship in the communities we serve is very important to us at Cora as it can impact and affect the economic and social fabric of those communities.
We recognise that, through the delivery of our services, we will have an impact on the natural environment within which we operate. Working over a wide range of locations, delivering varied services, and utilising the skills and expertise of many personnel means that this impact is unavoidable.
However, we can make changes in the way we operate to minimise negative impacts. Also, we can make decisions that have a positive outcome and contribute towards a more environmentally conscious and less impactful future.
To establish where our priorities might lie regarding environmental management and resource allocation, we have identified the key environmental issues and concerns at Cora and which of these are likely to be having the greatest impact.
Our key areas of improvement
We identified the following as areas key to delivering improvements in environmental management:
- Energy use and associated carbon emissions
- Waste management
- Travel and transport
- Relationship with suppliers / procurement
Our Environmental Policy commits Cora Health to compliance against all relevant environmental regulatory requirements. We commit to undertaking an evaluation of arrangements to meet regulatory requirements on an annual basis. We’ll work towards ISO 14001:2015 to provide external oversight of the environmental management system and reassurance of its effectiveness.
Our Commitments
- We commit to reducing emissions by 80% before 2036, allowing us to reach net zero by 2045. This demonstrates our commitment to support the NHS in their net zero plans.
- We will design and implement a waste, water and energy usage awareness campaign for colleagues.
Read our sustainability plan:
Our Sustainability PlanSupporting the NHS sustainability targets
The NHS in England have committed to ‘Delivering a Net Zero National Health Service (NHS)’. As a provider of NHS services, there will be contractual requirements in the future to assist the wider health service with reaching their stated targets.
These targets are as ambitious as possible while remaining realistic. They are supported by immediate action and a commitment to continuous monitoring, evaluation and innovation. The NHS have set two targets which we are committed to achieving as an NHS partner:
- For the emissions we control directly (the NHS Carbon Footprint), we will reach net zero by 2040, with an ambition to reach an 80% reduction by 2028 to 2032;
- For the emissions we can influence (our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus), we will reach net zero by 2045, with an ambition to reach an 80% reduction by 2036 to 2039.