Last week I had surgery at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary to fix a hernia (I may have mentioned it once or twice…). As I was being prepared for theatre, the anaesthetist asked me what I did. “Oh,” she said “We’re currently having a debate over whether gas or an imported liquid would be a bigger contributor to climate change.” Unfortunately the rest of that conversation was cut off by said anaesthetic…

A few years ago, in the same hospital, I had a similarly well-informed conversation with a theatre nurse about waste management and surgery waste. This level of awareness is a brilliant reflection on the work of the Sustainability Team at Newcastle Hospitals Trust, led by James Dixon (a member of our Corporate Sustainability Mastermind Group for several years, not that I’m trying to claim credit or anything!).

A killer question for other practitioners in other sectors – could your employees hold a detailed conversation about the environmental implications of what they do?