Cardiff and Vale UHB achieves ISO 14001 accreditation for environmental sustainability work

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board is delighted to announce that it has achieved continued ISO 14001 accreditation following an external audit by the British Standard Institute (BSI). This recognises the work it has done as part of its environmental management programme.

ISO 14001 is an internationally recognised standard that helps organisations both minimise their negative impacts on the environment while improving their positive effects on it.

ISO 14001 maps out how organisations can improve their resource efficiency and reduce waste.

Organisations signed up to the ISO 14001 must undergo continued systematic, independent, and objective audits to ensure that they have best practice processes in place. Globally, the health sector has a significant environmental impact, producing vast amounts of both waste and carbon emissions. For instance, if global health providers were a nation state, it would be the 5th biggest carbon emitter on the planet.

However, we know and are coming to better understand how the health of our planet and the health of people are intrinsically linked.

Therefore, it is part of organisations such as Cardiff and Vale UHB’s duty of care to try and reduce any negative environmental impact and contribute positively to planetary health for the benefit of the communities they serve.

Environmental management systems and standards such as the ISO 14001 are integral to this, committing organisations to caring about their environments and doing all they can to measure and mitigate their impact.

Geoff Walsh, Director of Capital, Estates and Facilities, said, “the Capital, Estates and Facilities teams have worked incredibly hard to achieve this accreditation and all of us at Cardiff and Vale UHB are very proud to receive this recognition. We are excited about continually improving our environmental impact and look forward to developing this portfolio of work in the future.”

Len Richards, Chief Executive, said, “I would like to extend my sincere thanks to everyone involved in achieving this certification. As a Health Board, we take our environmental impact very seriously and are working hard towards total decarbonisation; this is an important step on this journey. As we look to the future, and our proposal to build a new University Hospital for Wales, we will ensue that environmentalism and sustainability, as set out in standards such as ISO 14001, are at the core of our ambition.”

Last year, Cardiff and Vale UHB published its sustainability action plan to achieve its goals of improving its environmental impact following a declaration of a climate emergency. It is now calling for staff members’ opinions and ideas on potential programmes of work.

As we continue our journey towards decarbonisation, we would welcome your views about what is important to you and areas in which we can try to improve. Please complete the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/CAVUHBsustainability