Public Health Wales is required to submit its carbon emissions as part of the Welsh Government Public Sector reporting process. Following submission of 2022/23 data in September 2023, the table below summarises the latest emissions for the organisation.
Table 1 Emissions reported in kt CO2e
| 2021- 22 | 2022-23 | |
| Buildings | 0.44 | 0.40 |
| Business Travel | 0.18 | 0.28 |
| Commuting | Not reported | Not reported |
| Fleet | 0.18 | 0.28 |
| Homeworking | 0.61 | 0.50 |
| Land | N/A | N/A |
| Supply Chain | 30.21 | 15.62 |
| Waste | 0.09 | 0.08 |
| Total | 31.71 | 17.16 |
At the time of reporting, commuting data is not available as data is not collected. Methods for collating this information will be explored for future reporting. Business travel data also does not currently include all business travel. Further work in these areas is planned for 2024/25 (see travel section). Public Health Wales does not own or manage any land, so this reporting area is not applicable.
Whilst the data shows that we have reduced our carbon footprint by 45% since 2021/22, activity that
increased our carbon footprint in 2021/22 was heavily influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic response. This is particularly evident by the increased spend resulting in higher supply chain emissions in comparison to 2022/23.
The data also shows that building emissions and waste have remained similar but business travel and fleet emissions have increased by 55%. This is likley to be a result of more staff travelling for work purposes due to restrictions easing and our screening services recovering to pre pandemic activity levels. Due to the nature of our estate across Wales, it is not always possible to get accurate data and in some cases estimates have been included. For general and recycled waste, we only have one site where accurate data can be included where contract is provided by Biffa and landfill diversion reports are available. For other sites this has been estimated based on volume collected. Stericycle (SRCL) provide accurate weight information for all of our clinical waste. Power, Gas and Water information is based on actual usage through 2022/23, provided as part of our energy contracts. Public Health Wales currently has one site that generates electricity through Solar PV.
Homeworking data is based on information collected in June 2022, staff headcount data and ongoing monitoring of usage of our estate. A number of assumptions have been made as data is not complete and working patterns vary throughout the organisation. It is estimated that currently 77% of homeworkers work 1-2 days a week from Public Health Wales premises. Supply chain data has been provided by our Procurement Team.
As can be seen in the data above supply chain is the most significant emissions source, accounting for over 90% of emissions. Public Health Wales follows the Welsh Government prescribed approach to calculating supply chain emissions. Welsh Government have recognised that supply chain emissions are very uncertain, as they are based on a screening assessment method and this estimate needs to be improved over time through the development of more accurate methods.
Whilst we have seen a reduction in carbon emissions from 2021/22 this will have been impacted by several factors and will be further impacted in the future by-
As a result, it is likely that we may not continue to see a future reduction in emissions across some areas such as business travel, our fleet and as we improve our data collection processes and methodologies, the organisation will have an improved position of our progress to a net zero target however we may see increased reporting of carbon emissions.
Our current Decarbonisation Action Plan 2022-24 contains 75 actions. Progress updates have been provided by action leads, adopting the same process that has been established for updating the milestones within the Integrated Medium-Term Plan.
A number of the actions, whilst they have due dates for completion, will continue to be delivered, some are ongoing actions and others have due dates for delivery in future years so work may not have commenced but are marked as on track. These are being reviewed as part of the development of the next iteration of the plan.
As at quarter 3 2023/2024, 52% of the actions agreed in April 2022 have been completed (an increase of 15%) from August 2023, 43% are on track for delivery within the agreed timescales or ongoing action and 5% (same as last reporting period) are behind schedule.
Actions that are behind schedule or not completed have been replanned and included in this plan where relevant.
The NHS Wales Decarbonisation Strategic Delivery Plan has been developed to drive an ambitious but realistic reduction in carbon emissions from NHS Wales’s operations. The Delivery Plan sets 135 actions across 46 initiatives for decarbonising NHS Wales.
Due to the nature of the organisation, not all of the actions in the delivery plan are applicable to Public Health Wales and we are exempt from reporting against these. We are required to report against the Delivery Plan on a quarterly basis providing both a RAG status and delivery confidence assessment against the 58 actions applicable to the organisation.
As at quarter 3 2023/2024, 58 actions, 36% of the actions in the Delivery Plan have been completed for Public Health Wales (an increase of 15% since the last reporting period), 50% are on track for delivery within the agreed timescales or ongoing action and 13% are behind or at risk of falling behind schedule (a decrease of 2% since the last quarter). Detail of the actions behind schedule are included below. Actions that are behind schedule or not completed have been replanned and included in this plan where relevant.
It should be noted that many of the actions that are included in the Delivery Plan are dependent on funding being available. As this is not our Delivery Plan, we have little influence of timescales and where we are behind schedule with delivery. We will continue to work to achieve the action in line with the timescales set out in our Decarbonisation Action Plan.