The Net Zero contract . How soft-FM decisions shape the trajectory
White paper 3 of 5 . For NHS Chairs, DoFs and Estates Directors
Executive summary
The NHS Net Zero targets are legislated. Eighty percent reduction in the NHS 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 trust 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 trusts that hit 2028 treat the soft-FM contract as a decarbonisation instrument.
About a quarter of NHS operating carbon sits inside the soft-FM operating model. Ignore it and 2028 slips.
What is inside
- What the NHS 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 Sodexo's Zero Fund and Public Sector Sustainability Framework
- 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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Sodexo Health and Care
Part of the Governed First-Outsourcing knowledge bank. Verified 30 August 2026.