Green Heron Audit and the Planetary Health Report Card

The Green Heron Audit is an initiative run jointly by the Planetary and Population Health Research Group and the Global Sustainability Institute. So far, it has resulted in selected students using the Planetary Health Report Card to evaluate ARU's Public Health and Community Wellbeing MSc, Occupational Therapy MSc, Physiotherapy MSc, and School of Medicine.

The programme is led by John Gibson (Education for Sustainability Co-ordinator, Faculty of Science and Engineering) and Prof Sally Fowler Davis.

Student interns have proved to be brilliant advocates for sustainability in the curriculum, developing and creating new materials about biodiversity, net zero and wider health and care risks associated with climate change and environmental breakdown. Students have also learned about the use of audit methods to evaluate ARU's health curricula, and to make recommendations for improvements to courses and modules.

Climate change is having a profound effect on patients and staff working across health and social care services. This is only going to increase, and it is everyone’s responsibility to recognise the effects of climate change on population health, particularly in high risk communities, and to work towards net zero services.

Climate change significantly alters climate patterns, leading to more frequent and intense disasters. In the UK, The NHS is responsible for 5.4% of the UK’s total carbon emissions, which is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions of 11 coal-fired power stations.

The international healthcare sector has seen significant changes in recent years. In the next decade, we can expect major transformations in healthcare system design, driven by digital health advancements, increasing consumer demand, and financial pressures, all accelerated by COVID-19 and other world events.

The idea of integrated care has been was introduced in the early 2000s. It is supported more recently by the experience of COVID-19 and the digital revolution currently underway in healthcare, and promoted in the Independent investigation of the NHS in England report by Lord Darzi.