Environmental issues

From measuring our carbon footprint to setting an environmental policy, we take our responsibilities to the wider environment very seriously.

Bupa's carbon footprint

In 2007, we took the important step of measuring our global carbon footprint for the first time, as a means of helping us understand - and so start reducing - our impact on the environment.

The survey identified a footprint measuring 105,000 tonnes of carbon, focusing on our main outputs energy consumption and business travel.

Bupa is not a major producer of carbon; Bupa Care Services, which accounts for 77 percent of the Group’s footprint, produces less carbon than its 18,500 residents would have produced had they still lived at home.

Nevertheless, we are now working to identify further energy saving opportunities to complement the many measures already in place throughout Bupa.

Reducing environmental impact

Here is just a small selection of the initiatives our businesses around the world have implemented to cut carbon and reduce negative impact.

Bupa Care Services saved around 1,534 mWh of gas, enough to heat a 120 bed care home for a year, by installing 750 thermal jackets to valves, flanges and water tanks and by replacing 500 miles of of pipe insulation.

In the UK, a review on energy efficiency at Bupa properties includes introducing low energy lights, increasing building insulation, and improving hot water and heating controls.

The Sanitas headquarters is one out of two examples of green buildings in Spain, according to the specifications set by the US Green Building Council.

The Sanitas headquarters were designed following a five step criteria:

sustainable site development
energy efficiency
water saving
material selection
indoor environmental quality.

And another Sanitas project is being built following sustainability and low energy consumption criteria, The Hospital Sanitas La Moraleja – which is the first hospital in the Madrid region to obtain a favourable Statement of Environmental Impact from the Environmental Board.

In Australia we support Landcare, a community group committed to protecting the landscape with donated funds being used for conservation programmes in schools.

Our care services business in Australia has formed a sustainability committee to promote environmental initiatives and reduce energy usage and expenditure. Bupa Care Services in Australia have already implemented a number of environmentally sensitive improvements such as passive solar design, water harvesting and building material selection.

In 2007 MBF Australia took an industry-leading position to measure its energy use and carbon emissions, becoming the first health fund to measure its energy emissions and publicly report them.