The RCP’s commitment to sustainability and climate action

The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) recognises that the climate emergency is a health emergency.

The RCP has advocated for action on climate change for a number of years, helping to found the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change (UKHACC) in 2016, co-hosting an event at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021, and adopting sustainability and climate change as one of our four policy and campaign priorities in 2023.

But the RCP’s commitment to sustainability extends beyond its advocacy and campaigning. The climate crisis is the biggest threat to human health, and as an organisation with a proud history of shaping public health, the RCP is committed to minimising the environmental impacts of its operations.

That is why the RCP has today published its first ever report card on the sustainability of its operational running. This follows the RCP signing up to the UKHACC Commitments, a set of guiding principles to help health organisations take steps to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

The RCP is a global membership organisation, with two offices in the UK and a presence in countries around the world. We need to ensure that the vital work we do for physicians is balanced with our environmental responsibilities.

There are challenges that we face, but we remain committed to the agenda and to transparency about where things may take time to achieve, or may not be possible at the current moment. For example, while our Liverpool home at The Spine was built with sustainability in mind, we do not think that we will be able to achieve net zero in our current London home in Regent’s Park, which is a Grade I listed 1960s building. We have planned works across the London estate aiming to increase efficiencies and reduce energy consumption, and net zero will be a key priority for future estates planning in London. As a global organisation, flying remains an important part of advocating for physicians in other countries and providing exams.

We will share learnings with other members of the UKHACC, and are delighted that our Green Physician Toolkit has already been used as a case study by UKHACC on how to educate members about the links between climate and health.

Highlights in our progress report published today include:

• Advocacy and campaigning: We continue to advocate for climate-conscious healthcare policies, engaging with government and NHS bodies to ensure the health impacts of climate change remain a priority.
• Sustainable operations: Our Liverpool hub, RCP at The Spine, is WELL Certified™ at the Platinum level, and we are working to modernise our Regent’s Park headquarters to improve energy efficiency. When it comes to catering, plant-based catering options prominently featured on menus offered for all RCP internal and external events, we continue to drive down single-use plastics and improvements to waste management, including the use of worm bins for food waste at RCP London.
• Green medical practice: Our Green Physician Toolkit provides practical guidance for physicians across specialties to integrate sustainable practices into their work. We have a Special Adviser and Deputy Special Adviser on healthcare sustainability and climate change to guide our policy and media work, and have also recently appointed an RCP Sustainability Fellow to develop educational materials on climate and health for our members.
• Ethical investments: The RCP has already disinvested from fossil fuels and continues to push for greener financial choices.
• Green banking: We are conducting research into green banking options to align our financial practices with our sustainability commitments.

Later this year we will publish another progress report to ensure continued transparency and accountability on the work we’ve done in our first full year of being signed up to the commitments. From then on, we’ll publish annual reports as part of our annual reporting required of us as a charity to ensure we’re meeting our sustainability commitments as an organisation.

The evidence is clear: the climate crisis is already impacting health outcomes across the UK and beyond. From air pollution exacerbating respiratory conditions to extreme heatwaves threatening vulnerable populations, urgent action is needed. As leaders in the healthcare community, we have a responsibility to act decisively on climate change, both for the health of our population today and for future generations. The progress report published today is our first step in doing just that.