The Planet Mark - Heroes At Homerton And Heroes At Awards

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26 November 2018

It was announced recently that Homerton University Hospital had retained The Planet Mark for the second year - as the Trust was also being nominated in the inaugural  Planet Mark Awards.

The hospital has cut its total carbon footprint by 9.6% in 2017-18, compared to the previous reporting period.

 

Low Carbon Europe

Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is based in Hackney and provides general health services within both hospital and community environments. The hospital has almost 500 beds spread across 11 wards, a nine-bed intensive care unit and maternity, paediatric and neonatal wards.

The hospital has been working with energy and sustainability consultancy Low Carbon Europe (LCE), an Associate Partner of The Planet Mark, since 2016 to manage its impact on the environment. By retaining the certification, Homerton are  also directly and measurably contributing to seven of the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

 

Marked

The NHS Trust was officially presented with The Planet Mark Certificate at its Education Centre. Upon receiving the certificate Homerton director of Estates and Facilities Chris Forster said: “The Trust is pleased to retain its accreditation to The Planet Mark and fully commits to ongoing improvement and has a board approved sustainability strategy and Sustainable Development Management Plan to achieve this. Working in partnership with LCE has enabled the Trust to identify and deliver improvements and improve the awareness of the organisation and the wider community.”

 

The Trust retained certification to The Planet Mark by showing good practice in sustainability including:

• Achieving a 9.6% total carbon footprint reduction.

• Decreasing carbon emissions from buildings by 9.7%.

• Reducing carbon emissions from travel by 16.7%.

• Decreasing total carbon footprint per employee by 9.5%.

A number of additional initiatives have taken place over the last 12 months to make this certification possible including the roll out of LED lighting and the introduction of electric vehicles into the hospitals transport system.

The sustainability team have also launched a car share programme for hospital staff to reduce the cost of commuting and also their carbon emissions

 

Gratifying

Commenting on Homerton’s achievements, Steve Malkin, CEO and founder of The Planet Mark, said: “Presenting The Planet Mark to Homerton Hospital is one of the most gratifying things that we can do.  When people give so much to society, through their work, to see them go above and beyond by reducing their carbon emissions, increasing their recycling and cutting out their use of plastic, is one of the most uplifting experiences you can imagine.”

 

Throughout the next year, LCE and the Trust will be focussing on implementing a number of initiatives to drive more carbon reductions. These include:

• Implementing LED lamps within internal light fittings throughout the site.

• Investigating the opportunity to procure electric vehicles and bikes.

• Upgrading to smart meters where possible to improve data quality, monitoring and reporting.

LCE will continue to work with the Trust to support embedding sustainability throughout the organisation and help ensure carbon reductions are made in order to meet Climate Change Act 2008 targets and retain The Planet Mark Certificate year-on-year.

 

The Planet Mark Awards 2018

Sustainability champions and enlightened leaders were amongst those being celebrated at The Planet Mark Awards, hosted at Sadlers Wells Theatre, on 12th October.

Steve Malkin, CEO and founder of The Planet Mark, said: "Five years ago we took the bold step to launch a new sustainability brand – The Planet Mark.

"We wanted to empower individuals within organisations so that, if they were inspired to do their bit for climate change or for the planet, there was a way to exercise that energy in their place of work.

"Our five year anniversary awards showcased the outstanding achievements in sustainability from our diverse and growing community of holders of The Planet Mark. After a remarkable number of entries, 38 shortlisted finalists were whittled down by our esteemed panel of judges to 12 separate winners across four categories – Engage, Measure, Communicate and Overall."

 

Eden Project

The guest speaker was the Eden Project's Sir Tim Smit, who said: “We are all psychotically hooked into a world where we don’t know when to say stop. We are better than being just consumers, we are citizens and we have future generations to keep in mind. That is why The Planet Mark is important, it is something around which we can cohere, it is about having a moral compass"

 

Big winners

Web design agency Giant Peach took home the coveted Absolute Carbon Reduction Award, with judges recognising the agencies 41% reduction in electricity emissions, and 79% decrease in business air travel emissions 79%, despite significant business growth.

Clarity-The Soap Co. and GreenZone Cleaning and Support Services also took top honours on the night, winning the Best Newcomer and Best Company awards respectively. Meanwhile, Eight Associates took home the Carbon Reduction Per Employee Award.

In the two people categories, Bywaters Head of Health and Sustainability Ed Van Reenen won the Outstanding Individual Award; and DP World London Gateway's Emma Cowper was crowned the winner of the Sustainability Influencer Award.

 

The Planet Mark Awards 2018 - The winners

Employee Engagement Award

Winner- CLARITY-The Soap Co.

Sustainability Campaign Award

Winner- Bywaters

Annual Sustainability Report Award

Winner- Bidfood

Carbon Reduction per Employee Award

Winner- Eight Associates

Outstanding Individual Award

Winner- Ed Van Reenen

Community Engagement Award

Winner- Bidfood

Supply Chain Engagement Award

Winner- Prologis UK

Absolute Carbon Reduction Award

Winner- Giant Peach

Data Quality and Collection Award

Winner- The Furniture Practice

Best Newcomer Award

Winner- CLARITY-The Soap Co. GreenZone Cleaning

Best Company Award

Winner- GreenZone Cleaning & Support Services

 

Article written by Cathryn Ellis | Published 26 November 2018

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