An environmental consultancy firm is being sought to plot NHS Scotland’s route to net zero carbon emissions by 2045.

Three boards representing mainland, island and national health services have been selected to be part of a pilot scheme.

They are NHS Ayrshire & Arran, NHS Shetland and NHS Education for Scotland, which employs around 1,400 permanent staff.

A firm will be paid £80,000 to set out how each can reach the net zero goal by 2045, the date which the UK Committee for Climate Change has said Scotland needs to be carbon neutral by.

healthandcare.scot revealed in September that NHS Scotland CEOs had agreed six main commitments as part of a strategy that was due to be formally announced in March 2020.

The Scottish Government told healthandcare.scot the focus has been on covid-19 and they now intend to publish the NHS Scotland Climate Change and Sustainability Strategy 2020-25 this year.

Commitments included all new NHS buildings and ‘major refurbishments’ being zero emission this year, while NHS vehicles – except large ones – will meet the target by 2032.

There are also pledges to review supply chains to reduce associated environmental effects.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “While all of our efforts are rightly focused on responding to the current covid pandemic in order to save lives and to limit its economic impact, we remain committed to ending Scotland’s contribution to climate change and becoming a net zero society and this includes NHS Scotland Boards achieving a net zero service by 2045.”

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