Sustainability and mental health policy
Our ambitious plan for sustainability is outlined in our 2021 position statement 'Our planet’s climate and ecological emergency'.
Our role is to communicate the link between mental illness and climate change, ecological degradation and biodiversity loss, and what the Government and NHS can do to address it.
All our political engagement on this issue is underpinned by the principles of the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change (UKHACC) which we are a member of. As part of our influencing ahead of the 2024 General Election, we urged political parties to include the pledges in UKHACC’s in their own manifestos.
In 2024, as part of UKHACC’s Fossil Fuels Working Group. This report calls on governments across the UK to end fossil fuel dependency and the detrimental impact this has on global health, including mental health. The report advocates for a transition towards greener energy sources and a low-carbon, climate-resilient health service – read our related statement.
Also in 2024, we called for a modernised and sustainable mental health estate in our submission to the Government's consultation on the NHS 10 Year Plan. Here, we urged the Government to support the NHS to move towards more sustainable models of care, such as community mental healthcare, early intervention, and social prescribing.
RCPsych at the COP26 climate conference
We were awarded observer status at the in Glasgow in 2021.
During the COP26 conference we:
- released this , explaining some of the things we're doing to help achieve net zero
- hosted a special event from the WHO Health Pavilion titled , featuring a number of speakers followed by a Q&A
- participated in an event organised by titled titled 'We need to talk about mental health in a changing climate'
- highlighted the important connections between climate and mental health via our main Twitter/X account as well as our account.