WITH the United Nations conference on climate change kicking off in Bali this week, the public sector is busy wondering what it can do to help to save the planet.

BMJ (Dec 1) sets the tone, arguing that health professionals should lead the way in tackling the “potentially catastrophic” effects of climate change. They should set an example by cutting their own carbon footprint and that of their organisations, an editorial says. “Climate change challenges the health of everybody, but particularly of people with the fewest resources.”

Helping to meet that challenge is a team of experts who will tour NHS trusts urging them to take action on sustainable development, Health Service Journal (Nov 29) reports.

The team will ask NHS organisations to sign up to be “good corporate citizens”. Its boss says corporate responsibility as an issue of moral importance and says that the NHS must tackle climate change because of its likely impact on people’s health.

But going green is harder for some than others, argues Penny Pepper in Disability Now(Dec). “On the surface, to be disabled is to be a greedy guzzler of energy and resources.” Disabled people need more warmth, equipment and hi-tech gadgetry “that gobbles up electricity”. She suggests that manufacturers be persuaded that disabled people have a green conscience “as much as anyone else”.

People living in deprived communities may also have a green conscience, although they may find it harder than most to act upon it. But under a scheme reported in Regeneration & Renewal (Nov 30), it will become clearer which energy-saving initiatives work best in such communities. Electricity-monitoring devices will be fitted to homes and will help to reduce energy bills and residents’ carbon footprint.

Proposals to enforce the offsetting of carbon emissions on air travel could hit aid charities hard, Third Sector (Nov 28) reports. Dealing with distant disasters by staying at home is impossible for such charities, and those that spend £1 million a year on flights could face offsetting fees of £15,000.

Planning (Nov 30) says that the public sector has much to do if it is to embrace fully the idea of sustainable living. An environmental statement for a planning application involved so much paperwork that it had to be delivered on a pallet. The local planning authority demands 24 copies of every item of information connected with an application.

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