VetPartners commits to sustainability and charity goals

Practice group VetPartners has set out ambitious plans to reduce its carbon footprint, cut waste and boost its charitable activities.

The group – which has 142 veterinary practices and 5,514 employees in more than 400 sites – has launched its first sustainability strategy, the “VetPartners Sustainability Strategy: Looking Forward Together”.

Goals

It commits to a range of short and long-term goals to put sustainability at the heart of everything the company does.

These include:

• Measuring its carbon footprint, and setting reduction targets for 2026 and 2030.
• Making practice sites more wildlife-friendly.
• Reducing energy use by at least 20% by 2026 and getting at least 90% of electricity used on its sites from renewables.
• Diverting at least 90% of waste from landfill.
• Making sustainability training available to all team members.
• Installing water-saving measures in practices.
• Supporting farm vets with advice for farmers on sustainable agriculture.
• Volunteering at least 5,000 hours and raising a minimum of £50,000 for charity every year.

Ethos

VetPartners said the targets reflect its ethos of devoting an efficient, ethical, sustainable and profitable business, while it hopes the goals will see practices achieve recognition by gaining Investors in the Environment awards or Surfers Against Sewage Plastic-Free awards.

Jo Malone, chief executive of VetPartners, said: “VetPartners was founded on the values of caring for and respecting animals and people, and that includes looking after future generations by protecting the environment that we all rely on. We know that our colleagues care deeply about this.

“The response to the first steps on our sustainability journey has been overwhelmingly positive. The veterinary sector has a huge amount to offer: veterinary professionals are highly skilled and passionate, so they’re ideally placed to understand and share new ideas and sustainable ways of working.”