Delivering greener, more sustainable and net zero mental health care

This guidance on delivering greener, more sustainable and net zero mental health care could not have come at a more crucial time. The visible and tangible effects of climate change are now affecting us all in some way. It is therefore incumbent on each one of us and each organisation to take steps to tackle the climate crisis, including in our workplaces. We need to act now, for the planet’s health, for our patients’ health and for our own health. Within the NHS in England, momentum is building to meet the commitment to be net zero by 2045, and everyone involved in delivering mental health care can contribute to this.

Environmental sustainability has been one of the priorities of the Royal College of Psychiatrists for some years. We have approached this in three key areas: first, through our networks, by making sure that mental health services comply with environmental sustainability standards; second, through our membership, by supporting psychiatrists to make a difference via a learning and development programme on sustainability; and third, through our estate, by making sure that our buildings, food and waste management systems are environmentally friendly.

I was pleased to see that some of the recommendations in the guidance are things that the College is already doing, such as appointing sustainability scholars among psychiatry trainees and establishing a net zero action group. But the College still has work to do, in promoting sustainable mental health care and in reaching our own pledge to be net zero by 2040 – we can do this by integrating environmental sustainability into the quality improvement work that we do, by providing further training opportunities on embedding naturebased approaches in mental health care, and by making a commitment to sustainability being a part of all staff roles within the College.

I can’t pretend that meeting net zero targets will be easy – there will be multiple obstacles along the way. But as a College, we will do all that we can to support the implementation and uptake of this guidance within the psychiatric workforce and within multidisciplinary teams, and to also empower patients to challenge mental health services to be greener and more sustainable, and support them in their own sustainability journeys.

However, it’s not just about meeting net zero targets; it’s also about building sustainability into mental health care, and one of the main ways we can do this is by acting early so that people’s symptoms don’t get worse or by preventing mental health problems from developing in the first place.

Dr Lade Smith CBE, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrist