PHOENIX CARE · HEALTHCARE & SOCIAL CARE · CARBON REDUCTION PLAN
Phoenix Care provides home care and supported living services across Dorset. A council framework tender required a published Carbon Reduction Plan. I worked with the team to build a carbon baseline and a practical plan they could understand, own and use.
THE STARTING POINT
Phoenix’s starting document had been generated using AI. It did not align with the relevant PPN guidance or explain the business’s emissions in a meaningful way.
The team needed to understand where carbon arose, what they could influence and which actions made sense for a care provider. Ownership mattered from the outset: the people delivering the plan needed to recognise their business in it and understand the decisions behind it.
THE APPROACH
I began by working through the operating model with Carl: serviced office accommodation, staff travelling to and between care locations, and supported living properties with different ownership and tenancy arrangements.
Those conversations established the reporting boundary and the information needed for the calculations. They helped distinguish office energy, tenant energy, commuting and business travel.
Where direct data was unavailable, I documented estimates and their limitations, with priorities for improving the information in future years.
PRACTICAL ACTION
Phoenix’s direct operational footprint was relatively small. Staff travel and energy in its owned properties were more significant within the reported baseline, so these became important areas for attention.
The plan connected those findings with practical opportunities, including better travel information, property energy performance and the organisation of care visits. Actions needed to work alongside care quality, tenant comfort and individual choice.
THE WIDER SUSTAINABILITY STORY
Supporting independence, wellbeing and participation in the community is central to Phoenix’s work. I advised the team to give that social value a stronger place in how they explained their business to commissioners.
Carbon reporting and social value needed to connect coherently. A clearer account of the outcomes Phoenix supports could strengthen its tender responses alongside the environmental evidence.
THE RESULT
Phoenix completed and published its first Carbon Reduction Plan, with a documented baseline and practical priorities for future reporting and action. The business subsequently won the tender.
A staff session is planned to help employees understand the report, how it relates to their day-to-day work and where they can contribute. This will help carry the plan from a published document into the way the business operates.
YOUR NEXT STEP