- With this switch to clean energy, most of the electricity used in Bupa’s largest markets, including Australia, Spain, the UK, New Zealand and Chile now comes from renewable sources.
- This is an important step forward in Bupa’s journey to become a Net Zero business by 2040.
International healthcare company Bupa has made a significant move in its aim to be fully powered with renewable energy. Bupa’s business in Australia has partnered with renewable energy generator Pacific Hydro Australia to make the switch to clean energy in this country – enabling the healthcare company to make an important step forward in its journey to become a Net Zero business by 2040.
Bupa’s largest markets are already mainly powered with renewable energy: 100% of the electricity used in Spain and New Zealand, over 90% in the UK and over 70% in Chile come from renewable sources.
From February 2022, Bupa will be sourcing 100% renewable energy to fulfil the needs of 59 of its Australian locations, including aged care facilities and corporate offices in Melbourne and Sydney, for the next five years. This will be achieved by Bupa purchasing renewable energy certificates generated from Pacific Hydro’s wind and hydro portfolio.
The 30 GWh per year agreement facilitated by Tango Energy, Pacific Hydro’s retail arm, will save over 25,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere each year, the equivalent of taking over 5,500 cars off the road annually.
Bupa Asia Pacific CEO, Hisham El-Ansary, said: “This is a significant milestone in Bupa’s ambition to become a Net Zero business by 2040, driven by our focus on helping to create a healthy planet for healthy people.
“With this agreement, we’ve become one of the single largest purchasers of renewable energy certificates generated by Pacific Hydro’s portfolio, building demand for future renewable energy projects in Australia”.
Bupa’s Chief Sustainability & People Officer, Nigel Sullivan, added: “We understand that delivering healthcare has an environmental impact driven by the sector’s carbon contribution. I’m incredibly proud of our business in Australia for leading this agreement to significantly reduce our own impact, joining other businesses across the Bupa world in using solar, hydro and wind energy to power our operations.
“While there is still a lot of work to do in journey to becoming a Net Zero business by 2040, this partnership with Pacific Hydro reflects the kinds of decisions businesses large and small can make towards achieving Net Zero strategies.”
Click here for more information about the announcement.
Notes to editor
- In October 2021, Bupa announced its ambition to become a Net Zero business by 2040.
- As a first step to achieving net zero emissions by 2040, Bupa has set science-based targets across all 3 emission scopes which are aligned to keep global warming to no more than 1.5°C. These targets are being validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and they will ensure that Bupa makes transformational progress this decade.
- Bupa also joined the UN’s Race to Zero campaign with Health Care Without Harm, the official Race to Zero healthcare partner, joining other organizations who have committed to take rigorous and immediate action to halve global emissions by 2030 and deliver a healthier, fairer zero carbon world in time.
About Bupa
Bupa's purpose is helping people live longer, healthier, happier lives and making a better world.
We are an international healthcare company serving over 31 million customers worldwide. With no shareholders, we reinvest profits into providing more and better healthcare for the benefit of current and future customers.
We directly employ around 85,000 people, principally in the UK, Australia, Spain, Chile, Poland, New Zealand, Hong Kong SAR, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, the US, Middle East and Ireland. We also have associate businesses in Saudi Arabia and India.