The NHS Evergreen Sustainable Supplier Assessment

Table of contents

Introduction

The National Health Service is integrating sustainability initiatives across the organisation, and the NHS’s supply chain is now being asked to play a part in the move to greener practices.

This will happen through the NHS Evergreen Sustainable Supplier Assessment, an online tool that helps suppliers to align with the NHS’s sustainability goals via the tendering process.

Crucially, at Litmus Sustainability we can not only make complying with the NHS Evergreen Assessment a simple process for suppliers.

We can also help your business use the experience to get well ahead of the curve as sustainability becomes a procurement imperative across industry.

Chapter 1: The NHS Net Zero Roadmap

The NHS is committed achieving ambitious environmental goals; this programme will continue to introduce increasingly stringent standards in coming years. Now is a great time for your organisation to get onboard, and make transitioning an easily managed, smooth process.

 2022 – all NHS procurement contracts must include at least 10% net zero and social value components.

2023 – for contracts worth over £5m per year suppliers must publish a Carbon Reduction Plan (CRP).

2024 – from April supplier CRP plans must be included in all procurements.

2027 – by April suppliers will have to report targets and emissions publicly, along with a CRP for their global emissions. This should all align with the NHS net zero plan and cover Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.

2028 – from April carbon footprint data will be required for all specific products the NHS utilises.

2030 – NHS contract awards will be dependent on suppliers providing published reports on their sustainability progress, and continued reporting on emissions through the NHS Evergreen Assessment.

The overall aim of the NHS Evergreen Assessment is to help the organisation achieve comprehensive Net Zero targets by 2045.

Chapter 2: Who Needs to Use NHS Evergreen?

Many current NHS contracts already feature Evergreen requirements. And as the timeline shows, this will become the norm across all supplier arrangements in the near future. So it makes sense for you to start preparing now.

Because very soon, not by not complying with NHS Evergreen assessment levels, it’s likely that bids will be blocked and unsuccessful.

That’s not to say that the NHS aims to be exclusive or ’heavy-handed’ in the way it interacts with suppliers. It’s more a case of providing a framework where organisations bidding for contracts are given the means to clearly understand what’s required of them, and how to align with those requirements.

We’re here to help.

Litmus Sustainability experts have a 100% success rate in guiding organisations through all levels of NHS Evergreen Assessment.

Chapter 3: How does the NHS Evergreen Sustainable Supplier Assessment Work?

NHS Evergreen is based on an online self-assessment and reporting tool. Suppliers use this tool to detail their sustainability information, and for data to flow between their organisation and the health service.

When a supplier’s assessment has been completed via the online tool, their current sustainability status – referred to as ‘maturity’ – will be scored according to the NHS’s stated priorities.

Identifying the maturity of the supplier’s green performance at a given point provides a baseline, and allows a clear plan for progress to the next maturity level to be defined and detailed.

NHS Evergreen Sustainable Supplier maturity levels

The maturity criteria which set the levels a supplier can achieve are based on independent initiatives – such as the Modern Slavery Assessment Tool (MSAT) and the Science-based Targets Initiative (SBTi).

Level 1 – for organisations publicly committed to net zero achievement and demonstrable engagement with sustainable business activities.

Level 2 – suppliers with full net zero targets and robust reporting systems. They also have formalised policies related to promoting social value and tackling modern slavery.

Level 3 – organisations which have independently verified net zero achievement plans for 2045 and have completed the modern slavery tool.

Level 4 – organisations which have independently verified net zero achievement plans for 2045 for all their operations worldwide. Actively monitoring and/or investigating the supply chain for modern slavery risks.

Chapter 4: What information do you need to complete NHS Evergreen? 

The following goes into a little more detail of what the maturity levels mean in terms of the information required to be submitted.

Level 1

Evidence required to show:

• Implementation of environmental measures
• Provision of Scope 1 and 2 emissions and a subset of Scope 3 emissions. This requirement is crucial to gaining Level 1 maturity, so it’s worth getting up to speed with the details. 
• Publicly available UK net zero targets, aiming for achievement no later than 2050
• Compliance with any legislative requirements relating to modern slavery statements, the use of modern slavery assessment tools, and the identification of modern slavery risks

Level 2

Evidence required to show:

• Implementation of environmental measures
• Provision of Scope 1 and 2 emissions and all relevant Scope 3 emissions
• Publicly available UK net zero targets, aiming for achievement no later than 2050
• A public modern slavery statement, and compliance with any legislative requirements concerning the use of modern slavery assessment tools, and the identification of modern slavery risks

 Level 3

Evidence required to show:

Implementation of environmental measures

• Provision of Scope 1 and 2 emissions and all relevant Scope 3 emissions
• Publicly available global net zero targets, aiming for achievement no later than 2045
• Validation of net zero target and reported emissions by the reporting company
• A public modern slavery statement, the use of modern slavery assessment tools, and compliance with any legislative requirements concerning the identification of modern slavery risks
• A corporate social value programme

 Level 4

Evidence required to show:

Implementation of environmental measures

• Provision of Scope 1 and 2 emissions and all relevant Scope 3 emissions for both the reporting entity and the global parent entity
• Publicly available global net zero targets, aiming for achievement no later than 2045
• Validation of net zero target and reported emissions by the reporting company and the global parent entity
• Higher performer-transparency reporting
• A public modern slavery statement, the use of modern slavery assessment tools, and the identification of modern slavery risks through the mapping of the company supply chain, or the investigation of incidents and mitigation of high risks
• A corporate social value programme

Chapter 5: NHS Carbon Emissions & the NHS Evergreen Framework

NHS Evergreen is a crucial component in the health service’s drive to reach net zero emissions – by 2040 in respect of the NHS carbon emissions the organisation directly controls, and by 2045 for all emissions related to NHS activities.

The 2045 deadline adds those emissions generated by the provision of goods and services from partners and suppliers.

The original roadmap to 2045 approved by the NHS England Public Board in 2021 is based on the UK government’s procurement policy (PPN 06/20 and PPN 06/21).

What do the individual CRP ‘scopes’ entail?

Scope 1:

These are emissions that come directly from sources owned or controlled by a supplier’s business. That could include the fuel you consume on-site or the emissions generated by the cars and trucks you operate.

Scope 2:

These emissions are indirect – such as the ones generated from electricity or heat that you purchase from an external supplier.

Scope 3:

This is where things are a little more complex. For PPN 06/21, suppliers will need to measure and report on five categories within this scope:

1. Upstream Transportation and Distribution – emissions generated from the transportation of goods by suppliers to the company
2. Waste Generation – emissions from the treatment and disposal of operational waste
3. Business Travel – emissions from employee business travel using vehicles not owned by the company
4. Employee Commuting – emissions caused by employees travelling to and from work
5. Downstream Transportation and Distribution – emissions generated from the transportation of goods from the company to its end consumers

Chapter 6: Social Value – What are the right themes to add to the tender

The NHS has adopted central government’s Social Value Model to ‘help reduce health inequalities, drive better environmental performance, and deliver even more value from procured products and services.’

As a result, delivering social value is very much part of the NHS net zero supplier Evergreen framework.

In parallel with the need to support the NHS Carbon Reduction Plan (CRP), certain social value themes should also form part of a supplier’s NHS Evergreen Assessment.

Selecting social value model themes

Every procurement bid must include the Fighting Climate Change theme. In addition, further social value themes include:

• Wellbeing – to support physical and mental health

• Equal opportunity – to support a diverse workforce, deliver equity by design and eliminate modern slavery

• Tackling economic inequality – employment as an economic and health intervention

Litmus Sustainability are ready to help you select the right mix of social value for NHS Evergreen.

Chapter 7: How Do You Access & Complete the NHS Evergreen assessment?

The NHS Evergreen framework is accessible via Atamis, the health family e-commerce procurement platform.

Any supplier currently delivering goods or services to NHS England, integrated care boards or an English NHS Trust – and those looking to do so – can register with Atamis to initiate an NHS Evergreen assessment.

Once an assessment has been completed, the maturity score achieved will remain valid for 12 months. It’s good practice to revisit your assessment annually, although significant updates can be added at any point throughout each year.

Note: the information and evidence requirements for each of the four maturity levels are detailed in the previous ‘What does Evergreen need to know?’ section.

Chapter 8: Glossary

A guide to some technical jargon & terms

There’s inevitably a lot of phrases and jargon used around emissions reduction and green issues, so we’ve put together a list that defines some of the wording you’ll likely encounter

Avoided emissions

When organisations fund offsetting schemes that help others reduce their carbon emissions, this can lead to avoided emissions. It’s important to realise that these avoided or offset emissions don’t count as mitigation measures in a carbon reduction plan.

Big Data 

Data sets that are so large that traditional human-led analytical tools aren’t effective.

Carbon emissions

A catch-all term used to describe the release of carbon dioxide (CO²) and other harmful greenhouse gases (GHG) into the atmosphere.

Carbon footprint

The combined sum of all the greenhouse gas emissions released by an individual, product, organisation, or country. Looking at carbon footprint is a vital step in measuring an organisation’s impact on the climate.

Carbon neutral

When its greenhouse gas emissions are entirely offset by natural carbon sinks and/or carbon credits, an organisation can be described as carbon neutral. As it can be achieved through carbon offset, rather than requiring emissions to be eliminated entirely, carbon neutral is often thought to be easier to achieve than net zero.

Carbon offsetting

An organisation, product, or service can use carbon offsetting to reduce its carbon footprint. These are accredited schemes that allow organisations to buy certificates or credits that represent avoided or negative emissions achieved elsewhere. In our opinion (and that of many others in our sector) offsetting is not actually a carbon reduction measure; it’s more a case of buying an easy option that just ‘parks the problem’ elsewhere!

Carbon reduction

Considered a more sustainable option than carbon offsetting, carbon reduction is when an organisation directly reduces its greenhouse gas emissions through operational efficiencies.

Climate Change

The disruption to the Earth’s natural climate systems due to the increased level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.  Climate change is distinct from weather. The word ‘weather’ means short-term atmospheric conditions like rain or heat; climate change refers to long-term shifts over decades.

Decarbonisation

The process of reducing the emissions produced by a product, service, organisation, or country.

Greenhouse Gases

The term used to describe all gases that contribute to climate change by trapping heat in the atmosphere. Some greenhouse gases occur naturally but their levels can be dangerously increased by human activity. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.

Greenwashing

Companies and organisations can be accused of greenwashing if they set out to benefit from the positive PR generated by climate action without making any tangible improvements. In many cases greenwashing can occur accidentally or as a result of negligence, so it’s not always about having a conscious policy to mislead. But however caused, when greenwashing comes to light, the negative PR can be very damaging to an organisation.

Net Zero

An organisation, company, or country can achieve net zero when the greenhouse gases they produce are equivalent to the amount removed from the atmosphere. Net zero differs from carbon neutral as it doesn’t include carbon offsetting, instead it focuses on a combination of emission removal and reduction.

PPN 06/21

A procurement policy notice published by the UK government in June 2021, PPN 06/21 applies to organisations bidding for any public sector contracts including NHS suppliers. Under its terms potential suppliers must produce a compliant CRP to show their route to net zero.

SBTi (Science-Based Targets initiative):

A global programme that helps companies set carbon-cutting targets in line with climate science. Think of it as a checklist to make sure your goals are actually meaningful.

Streamlined Energy Carbon Reporting (SECR)

A policy implemented in April 2019, SECR requires impacted organisations to share details of their energy use and carbon emissions information in their annual reports. This applies to large businesses that meet two or more of the following conditions:

• Have a turnover of £36m or more
• Have a balance sheet of £18m or more
• Have 250 employees or more

Smart Sensors

Technological devices that can be fitted on, or contained within, an item to measure and send physical data to another device or a cloud host. This data can include things like the temperature, traffic levels, and pollution levels.

Sustainability

A sustainable development is one that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. To be truly sustainable, organisations must consider their immediate and long-term environmental, social, and economic impact. This should also take account of the impacts attributable to their activities beyond their own organisation, encompassing the whole value chain.

Zero Carbon

A zero carbon company or product is one that has no greenhouse gas emissions.

Conclusion: Get Ready for a Sustainable Business Future

Just as in the late 20^th century when digital technologies began to emerge in the business environment, the growing importance of sustainability in commercial activities places us all at the dawn of a worldwide transformation and new opportunities.

At this point in time, suppliers who actively address sustainability policies and practices have a distinct competitive advantage over those who don’t.

It’s clear that existing or aspiring NHS suppliers who engage with the NHS Evergreen Assessment now are securing their future.

They’re insuring against a time – 2030 in particular – when suppliers who can’t show a track record of reported decreases in the greenhouse gas emissions will likely disqualify themselves from working with the NHS entirely.

So right now is a great time to lay the foundations of a sustainable future for your business and the planet.

Litmus Sustainability are ready and able to make the process of NHS Evergreen Assessment smooth, simple and rewarding.