The North East Wales NHS Trust is responsible for the provision of secondary acute, community and mental health care in the counties of Wrexham and Flintshire, although a significant number of patients from beyond these county boundaries (including parts of North Powys, South Denbighshire and Gwynedd, NorthWest Shropshire and West Cheshire) are also served.

The Trust's main sites are Wrexham Maelor Hospital with Community Hospitals at Mold, Deeside, Flint, Holywell, Chirk and Penley and a network of health clinics and specialist units across the region. It serves around 300,000 people across Wrexham and Flintshire and employs around 5,250 staff.

Mark Common, Director of Operations and Deputy Chief Executive, is the man responsible for overseeing the Trust's carbon footprint reduction.

What prompted The Trust to pay specific attention to its carbon footprint?

"The Trust has been proactive in environmental management from its formation in 1999, initially through meeting the requirements of standards set for environment, waste management and transport.

"However, previous organisations such as Clwyd Health Authority, Wrexham Maelor NHS Trust and Clwydian Community Care NHS Trust have monitored and targeted the use of its utilities and put measures in place to improve the ways in which energy and water are used."

Which agencies have helped develop The Trust's attempt to cut carbon emissions and how?

"The Trust is working with Arena Network in attaining the Green Dragon environmental standard and has attained level 3 for Wrexham Maelor Hospital, Chirk, Mold, Flint and Deeside Community Hospitals and Penley Hospital.

"In addition, The Trust has just completed a project with the Carbon Trust to identify measures whereby it can reduce its carbon emissions by up to 25% over the next 5 years. The Welsh Assembly Government Central Energy fund has allowed Trusts in Wales to invest in carbon reduction schemes."

What else could The Welsh Assembly Government do to help the Public Sector develop a low-carbon economy?

"It could allow the public sector to be eligible for some of the grant funding available to the private sector. It could also further encourage local sustainable procurement to cut down on 'food miles'.

"With the same concern, it could help improve public transport to and from key NHS sites to reduce the reliance on cars for staff, patients and visitors."

In which sectors of your Trust are the most obvious carbon cuts to be made?

"By attending to building management - the rationalisation of building stock by closing down energy-inefficient buildings - and an increase in the use of energy from renewable sources.

"Then there's waste management - managing waste more efficiently by reducing, recycling, reuse before disposal. Finally, transport - providing incentives for using public transport, cycling and walking instead of cars."

How is The Trust actively engaging stakeholders in its low carbon battle?

"The Trust is currently running an energy awareness campaign and has two groups set up to oversee the management of the environment. These groups are the Environmental Management Steering Group chaired by a non executive director and the Operational Environmental Management Group that is charged with implementation of policies and procedures."

Are there any specific obstacles that an NHS Trust faces in trying to lower emissions?

"Service development is increasing demand for space heating and electrical power. Sophisticated computer equipment and demand for environmental control has led to a greater use of localised cooling and air conditioning.

"The use of cars to come to our sites is increasing year on year which sees a demand for car parking increasing at a rate of about 3% per annum."

What has been your most successful low carbon initiative so far and what made it so?

"The rationalisation of building stock. The Trust has since 2004 closed five old energy- inefficient hospitals and replicated the service in modern, well-controlled buildings.

"The Trust closed Dobshill, Meadowslea and Trevalyn Hospitals in December 2004 to patients and replaced the facilities with a 104-bed unit at Wrexham Maelor Hospital and a 30-bed unit at Deeside Community Hospital.

"Due to the poor energy performance of those former Trust buildings, which was mainly due to their age and design, and compared to the new build, it is estimated that over 400 tonnes per annum of CO2 have been saved.

"In March 2008 a new hospital was opened in Holywell which replaced the Holywell Community hospital and the former work house which became Lluesty Hospital. Whilst it is too early to verify any figures there is a potential to save 270 tonnes of CO2 per annum in replacing those two buildings. These have been factored into the potential carbon savings for 2009/10."

Tell us about what are you working on right now?

"We are about to implement, subject to final board approval in May, the first stage of the Carbon Management Implementation plan which is forecast to generate savings of 550 tonnes CO2 in 2008/09 and a total of 3000 tonnes over a five year period.

"The savings over the five year period of 3000 tonnes of CO2 is made up of over 60 separate schemes which fall loosely into four categories:

· Buildings: upgrading insulation, heating controls, replacing lighting, motor controls, replacement of building stock
· Transport and Travel: the use of used cooking oil as a biodiesel for machinery; encouraging alternatives to the car - cycle to work schemes, car sharing, etc;
· Procurement and procedures: automatic metering, procurement of low- carbon vehicles, procurement of energy efficient alternative products;
· Waste management: reducing trips to land-fill and greater recycling.

"The 3000 tonnes were identified as potentially there to save but there are risks involved.

"Each measure has been risk-assessed against the likelihood of implementation and some of the schemes for years four and five do tend to be the higher risk measures as they require the service to develop in a particular way which may not be possible due to service pressures prevailing at the time.

"For example, building energy-efficient methods into ward refurbishment may be put into question if we are not able to close the wards at the time. And the demolition of some energy inefficient buildings depends on funding being available for alternative accommodation.

"The 550 tonnes saving for 2008/09 is derived from schemes already being undertaken and relies heavily on good housekeeping measures to reduce waste through our energy awareness campaign; energy-efficient lighting schemes; extending building management controls to give tight temperature control and remote metering to allow us to analyse how energy is used and be able to act swiftly to avoid wastage."

What advice would you give to someone taking on a role similar to yours?

"Working on the Carbon Management Implementation plan, which is facilitated by the Carbon Trust, has helped the Trust focus on all aspects of managing the carbon footprint from procurement to utilities usage and from waste disposal to travel and transport."

Low Carbon Board Report

Responsible Procurement Is Good For Business

The key message for energy producers and industrial and commercial consumers in the supply chain is that unsustainable production and consumption of energy may financially impact the organisation.

In influencing the strategic direction within their organisation, the purchasing and supply management professional needs to conduct an audit of the carbon footprint generated within the organisation, both at an operational level, and in relation to the end products or services delivered to the market.

CIPS guidance will be useful in strategic planning and will also assist in developing tenders for electricity and gas services. The following gives the reader an overview of the principles and practice of sustainable procurement, and suggests hints and tips when sourcing energy.

The case for sustainable procurement

In alignment with the European Union’s Sustainable Development Strategy, true sustainable procurement should take into consideration economic, environmental, and social factors in analysing the impact of sustainable procurement to the purchasing and supply chain environment. Most debate, research and action has focused on the environmental aspects.

This is understandable as an initial step, but any framework for analysis must consider the three pillars of sustainability. To promote this focus, CIPS has segmented the areas as follows:

Economic impact of sustainability:

• Corporate governance
• Ethical trading
• Payment on time

Environmental impact of sustainability:
• Biodiversity
• Climate change and carbon footprints

Social impact of sustainability:
• Diversity (supplier and workforce)
• Human rights Most large organisations have adopted some aspects of good sustainable procurement practices.

This is borne out by the Business in the Community’s Corporate Responsibility index, a leading benchmark of responsible business in the UK. Of most relevance to the sustainable procurement, the conclusions of the 2006/2007 report state that “supply chain management remains a challenge for companies, although there has been a significant increase in the number of companies working with suppliers to help them improve their social and environmental management and performance”.

There are many business benefits from sustainable procurement. Minimising the risks arising from new legislation is just one of these, but it is increasingly important. In the UK, two separate Bills on energy and climate change will put in place the regulatory framework for sustainability.

The Climate Change Bill will give statutory force to the Government's targets for cutting emissions, while the Energy Bill drills down into the some of the detail proposed in the Climate Change Bill. Specifically, it proposes a regulatory framework for carbon capture projects and alters the framework to encourage private sector investment in gas supply security.

Sustainable procurement encourages organisations to follow a whole life costing methodology, and also delivers cost savings. This would include reusing and recycling, and ultimately reducing the amount of waste going to landfill.

It also helps to enhance the corporate image in the marketplace, create markets for new products and services, and secure the supply of goods and services in the light of increasing environmental legislation.

New demands on energy procurement

Organisations are spending more on energy than they have ever done before, and the drive towards a low carbon economy is creating new challenges and opportunities for purchasing and supply management professionals.

Contingency planning becomes a priority in order to mitigate risk. This risk may take several forms – it may be related to a proposed change in the source of supply, which may affect the security of supply, or increase input costs.

For large energy users – for example, extractive industries, steel and cement manufacturers – represented by the Energy Intensive Users Group, issues take on critical strategic importance, with industry considering relocating globally to where carbon costs are lower.

Purchasing and supply professionals should have an outline knowledge of the following elements of energy procurement:

The supply of electricity and gas

The energy charge is the major element of the electricity price. It is sometimes referred to as the power station gate price. This, together with the profit, is the only negotiable element and can be directly compared between offers, for different premises, and between companies. The most important aspect of the price is the time of day when the electricity is used.

Transmission charges are derived from the electricity used by a customer at certain times, called the triads. There is also a regional factor, low in the north of England, but much higher in the south. Distribution charges vary as to the regional location of the customer, on electricity used and when. They also reflect the amount of electricity supply capacity held for the customer.

As with the supply of electricity, the provision of gas is based on a competitive market. Since the gas distribution system is a near monopoly, National Grid’s prices are regulated and are calculable. The distribution system is operated under the Network Code. This is a very complex document written, managed and operated by National Grid.

In the UK gas is supplied on a ‘firm’ or an ‘interrupted’ basis. Gas supplied on an interrupted basis to industrial and commercial organisations cost less, but the organisations agree to an interruption in supply at short notice as specified in their contract. This would occur when there is a shortage of gas in the market and is done to ensure continuity of supply to vital services – such as hospitals – and domestic consumers.

Customers are metered, the largest consumers using daily metering. Consumers without daily metering are termed non-daily metered.

Hints and tips when buying electricity and gas

• Familiarise yourself with your contract in good time to allow tender preparations and negotiations. It is vital to know when the contract expires.
• If the contract starts in the spring consider an 18-month deal. This will give two periods of summer low prices, and one of high winter prices, giving overall savings.
• Have a good knowledge of the markets. A large proportion of energy related enquiries CIPS handles are members seeking validation on market developments. As 40% of electricity is generated by burning gas, any volatility in the price of gas or oil will be reflected in electricity prices, although not necessarily immediately.
• Trends suggest that carbon permit prices will escalate in phase three of the European Union’s emissions trading scheme. Premium prices on renewable energy have led several organisations, such at BT, to implement strategic investment decisions with renewable energy. In this example, BT plan to develop 250MW of wind power by 2016.

The way ahead The procurement professional’s role includes managing costs effectively, ensuring the security of supply for their organisations, and fostering innovation among the supplier base. Carbon footprints affect all these activities.

Responsible procurement is good for business. The purchasing professional is well positioned to influence their organisations strategy to manage their carbon footprint.

CIPS encourages purchasing and supply management professionals to work towards reducing their carbon footprint by using less, recycling more, and considering the whole life costs of goods and services procured, including their disposal where applicable. Carbon off-setting, where used, should be to the gold standard, using reputable organisations.

CIPS recognises that purchasing and supply management professionals have to manage conflicting priorities in delivering a sustainable agenda. CIPS advocates that they are trained to develop the required skills and competencies in sustainability issues to enable them to promote sustainability within their organisation. This will enable them to maintain the balance between remaining profitable, helping society, and supporting the natural environment, by seeking opportunities and identifying risks.

CIPS believes that a lack of relevant skills and knowledge is a hurdle to sustainable procurement and will work with Government, other professional institutions, and both further and higher education, to influence and support skills development and training across industries and markets.

René Vicente de Sousa is Senior Procurement Specialist in the Professional Practice Team at the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply, the leading body representing the field of purchasing and supply chain management.