When ABL Health set out to win a national NHS Mental Health Framework contract, they faced a major hurdle: meeting tough carbon reporting and sustainability criteria without in-house expertise. By partnering with Green Economy, they not only met the requirements—they unlocked long-term operational improvements and a stronger competitive edge.
ABL Health provides integrated wellbeing services to improve the health of local residents and reduce health inequalities in the communities they serve. They deliver these services on behalf of the public sector. The business was looking to submit a national bid for an NHS Mental Health Framework contract. As part of the tender requirements, they needed to accurately calculate and report their carbon footprint and demonstrate a compliant and credible Carbon Reduction Plan (CRP).
With no in-house expertise in carbon reporting, ABL Health required expert guidance to meet the NHS’s increasingly stringent sustainability criteria and approached Green Economy for support.
Becky Chedd, Sustainability Consultant at Green Economy met with Nicole Alkemade, Public Health Lead, ABL Health to understand their activity to date and to provide tailored support to meet the framework requirements, including a carbon footprint calculation, development of an actionable carbon reduction plan, process improvement advice and knowledge transfer to help the business embed sustainability thinking and empower them to take ownership of the ongoing plan.
Becky said: “When ABL Health approached us, the brief was to help them to meet the requirements of the NHS framework, but the resulting activity unlocked a wider range of benefits that would help improve operational and resource efficiency, offering carbon and cost savings, as well as a competitive edge to the tender process.”
As a result of the work, ABL Health achieved the highest scores in the NHS Mental Health Framework tender, where sustainability was a mandatory criterion. Since then, they have been able to demonstrate their commitment to net zero in other tenders as well.
Nicole said “The success of the tender is hopefully a huge boost for our business, but the biggest impact Green Economy has made is a change in mindset and improvement of our processes. We’ve driven forward specific projects to improve energy efficiency, environmental reporting and waste management across our sites, and we’ve also revisited our clinic rotas and as a result reduced staff commute journeys and business mileages. Environmental sustainability has become a part of ‘business as usual’.”
As a result of the work, the business has shifted all lighting at their Bolton office to LED lighting, they operate recycling schemes across all sites, include carbon literacy in their curriculums, and are engaging with landlords to improve environmental reporting.
“Green Economy didn’t just help us tick a box—Becky helped us transform how we think about sustainability. Their support was practical, insightful, and directly contributed to our success in securing an important NHS contract. We now have the tools, knowledge, and confidence to keep improving.”
Nicole Alkemade, Public Health Lead, ABL Health Limited
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