Sustainability is not a static goal but a dynamic, ever-evolving process that requires continuous improvement and adaptation.
That’s why we have implemented an annual review process that ensures our current Sustainability Action Plan remains relevant, impactful, and aligned with our sustainability and organisational goals.
By regularly revisiting our goals and targets, we ensure our actions remain relevant and impactful
Our annual reviews allow us to fine-tune our sustainability goals, targets, and actions. This process helps us be more effective and adaptable, letting us respond to your feedback, data, and emerging challenges, while maximising our positive impact on the environment and the communities we serve.
This commitment to transparency and accountability ensures that our Sustainability Action Plan remains a dynamic and responsive document, evolving alongside changes in our sustainability priorities and state government targets.
What changes can I expect to see?
We’ve taken a closer look at how we’re doing things and made some tweaks to our goals and approaches to keep things practical and effective. Here’s some of the changes you’ll see in our updated Sustainability Action Plan:
- Strategic target adjustments – We’ve fine-tuned our targets to accommodate our growth, using 2020/21 as a consistent baseline.
- Streamlined water reduction targets – We’ve removed a duplicate water target and shifted our focus to achieving an overall reduction in total water consumption.
- Integration of Procurement reporting – The procurement target has been removed as reporting will be conducted via our new Social Procurement Strategy.
- Aligning cultural objectives – The culture target has been removed, recognising that its coverage is already embedded in our Sustainability Strategy objectives.
- Refined emissions targets – Emissions targets have been adapted to address sources within Scope 1 (direct) and Scope 2 (indirect energy) emissions, ensuring a targeted and impactful approach.
- Strategic food waste reduction – Our food waste target has been refocused to concentrate efforts exclusively within our main kitchens.
- Optimising actionable items – The number of actions have been consolidated from 42 to 34, streamlining our efforts and enhancing the efficiency of our pursuit of sustainability objectives.
Our original Sustainability Action Plan will always be available, providing an excellent opportunity for us to track our maturity and progress. You can find the original and the updated versions on our Sustainability intranet pages.
Sustainable strides
In the past year, our sustainability journey has focused on laying a solid groundwork that gives us consistent direction and guidance for environmental planning and decision-making across the organisation.
We’ve established effective governance and teamwork through our Steering Committee, working groups, and green teams, ensuring a collaborative and unified approach. Enhancements in environmental reporting have brought added transparency to our efforts. We’ve conducted thorough waste audits and developed plans to ensure a targeted and effective approach to waste reduction.
Excitingly, we’re making inroads towards more sustainable transportation by introducing electric vehicles to our fleet. With charging stations and infrastructure in place, electric vehicles will soon be available to book and drive from Clayton, Dandenong and Kingston, with plans to roll out to additional sites in the future.
If you have any questions about the Action Plan and Sustainability at Monash Health, please contact sustainability@monashhealth.org.
Approved by Paul Butler, Interim Executive Director, Office of Chief Executive