Net Zero Commitment Statement (PPN 06/21)

Claremont Living Group is committed to achieving Net Zero carbon emissions by 2040. This commitment applies across all operational sites and activities and will be reviewed annually as part of organisational governance and contract performance monitoring.

1. Embedding Environmental Sustainability as a Foundation of High-Quality Services

Claremont Living Group’s commitment to carbon reduction is grounded in a fundamental understanding that environmental sustainability is inseparable from service quality, resilience and long-term value in health and care provision.

We operate in a system experiencing sustained pressure: increasing demand, workforce constraints, financial challenge and growing exposure to energy volatility. In this context, buildings that are inefficient, poorly managed or environmentally unsustainable do not simply carry a carbon cost, they create operational risk, undermine affordability and ultimately impact outcomes for the people who rely on them.

For Claremont Living Group, carbon reduction is therefore not framed as a compliance obligation or a reporting exercise. It is framed as a core organisational responsibility, directly aligned to our purpose of delivering safe, effective and sustainable rehabilitation and stepdown services.

This Carbon Reduction Plan (CRP) articulates how our intent translates into action: how we move from principles to practical delivery, how carbon reduction is embedded into everyday decision-making, and how our approach supports not only our organisation, but the wider NHS and Integrated Care System (ICS) within which we operate.

2. Sustainability as an Organisational System

This Carbon Reduction Plan forms one integrated strand of Claremont Living Group’s overarching Sustainability & ESG Framework. That framework has been intentionally designed to align with:

• NHS Net Zero ambitions

• ICB Green Plans

• NHS Estates & Technical (ETC) priorities

• Population health and prevention agendas

• Long-term financial sustainability and service resilience

Within this framework, carbon reduction sits alongside and is mutually reinforcing with social value, workforce wellbeing, ethical procurement and service quality.

Crucially, this means carbon considerations are not applied retrospectively or in isolation. They are embedded upstream into our;

• Estate planning and asset management

• Service design and mobilisation

• Procurement and supplier selection

• Workforce behaviours and culture

• Contract governance and performance review

This systemic approach reflects how sustainability is increasingly being treated within the NHS itself: not as a siloed agenda, but as a cross-cutting enabler of long-term system sustainability.

3. Our Role Within the NHS, ICB and Integrated Care System

Claremont Living Group operates at a critical point in the health and care pathway:

supporting individuals to transition safely from hospital into community-based living and independence.

From an NHS and ICB perspective, our services contribute directly to system priorities by:

• Reducing length of stay in acute hospitals

• Preventing avoidable readmissions

• Supporting timely discharge and flow

• Delivering care in lower-intensity, non-acute environments

• Improving patient experience and outcomes

Our carbon reduction approach has been deliberately designed to support these system objectives.

We recognise that acute hospital estates are among the most energy-intensive environments in the health system. By operating efficient, well-managed and progressively decarbonised rehabilitation and step-down settings, we help ICBs and ICSs to shift care away from high-carbon acute infrastructure without compromising quality or safety.

In this way, our approach aligns directly with NHS priorities around:

• Place-based care

• Out-of-hospital models

• Right Care, Right Place

• Long-term system decarbonisation

4. Estates, Energy and Alignment with NHS ETC Priorities

Claremont Living Group’s approach to estates and energy mirrors the discipline applied within NHS Estates & Technical (ETC) functions.

We recognise that decarbonisation of healthcare estates is complex, particularly in live care environments. As such, our approach follows a clear hierarchy consistent with NHS best practice:

1. Understand and control energy use 2. Eliminate waste and inefficiency 3. Improve fabric and systems 4. Plan for low-carbon heat transition 5. Avoid premature or unsafe retrofit

Across both our Main Office and Summerhill (a 40-bed, 24/7 residential rehabilitation complex), we apply these principles to ensure that carbon reduction enhances rather than undermines safety, comfort and care quality.

This alignment with NHS ETC thinking gives commissioners confidence that our estate strategy is coherent with system-wide approaches, not working at odds with them.

5. Baseline Emissions 

Claremont Living Group has established a transparent baseline covering:

• Our Main Office 

• Summerhill, recognising the materially different carbon profile of a live-in care environment

This baseline reflects the realities of residential rehabilitation:

• Continuous heating and hot water demand

• Higher electricity use driven by communal living and safety requirements

• Transport emissions associated with service delivery

• Indirect emissions linked to procurement, waste and water

By grounding our plan in a realistic baseline, we ensure that:

• Reduction targets are credible

• Investment decisions are evidence-led

• Progress can be monitored year-on-year

• Commissioners can have confidence in delivery

Baseline figures have been developed using actual data where available and reasonable estimates where required, in line with PPN 06/21 and NHS reporting expectations .

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