The Net Zero contract . How soft-FM decisions shape the trajectory
White paper 3 of 5 . For Public Healthcare Chairs, DoFs and Estates Directors
Executive summary
The Public Healthcare Net Zero targets are legislated. Eighty percent reduction in the Public Healthcare Carbon Footprint by 2028 to 2032 against a 1990 baseline and full net zero by 2040. Oil as a primary heating fuel leaves the estate by 2028 and fossil-fuel primary heating is phased out by 2032. Most organisation plans focus on the capital programme, yet about a quarter of the operating carbon footprint sits inside soft-FM. Cleaning chemicals, waste streams, food procurement, portering fuel, uniform lifecycle, laundry and consumables. The paper argues the organisations that hit 2028 treat the soft-FM contract as a decarbonisation instrument.
About a quarter of Public Healthcare operating carbon sits inside the soft-FM operating model. Ignore it and 2028 slips.
What is inside
- What the Public Healthcare Net Zero commitments actually say
- Where soft-FM sits in the carbon footprint
- The decarbonisation levers inside a soft-FM contract
- Why in-house cannot deliver the 2028 trajectory alone
- Reading the market. Published sustainability frameworks as external evidence
- What a Chair needs to answer before the £1bn framework closes
Full paper
Key numbers
- 2028-2032
- 80% reduction deadline
- 2028
- Oil primary heating out
- 2032
- Fossil primary heating out
- £1bn
- Decarbonisation of Estates framework
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Cleared for external sharing with an organisation colleague.
Trellis Meriden Health and Care
Part of the Governed First-Outsourcing knowledge bank. Verified 30 August 2026.