The British Association of Dermatologists (BAD) is committed to sustainability as an organisation, both within the BAD and in dermatology as a specialty. As an organisation we recognise that the world is facing a climate and ecological crisis.

The BAD’s Sustainability Sub-Committee has been set up to guide the BAD’s strategy in this area. The aim of this group will be to determine how we, as an association, can accelerate our efforts to move towards carbon neutrality.

We will also be establishing recommendations for our dermatologists, the wider NHS, research institutes and government, to promote more sustainable clinical practices.

As a starting point, central to our work to reduce the carbon footprint of the BAD is the mantra of reduce, reuse, recycle. Our aim, where possible, is to reduce resource consumption, this may mean stricter travel policies, making use of virtual meeting spaces, reducing printing, moving to sustainable sources of energy, shifting to digital and other such policies. Where reduction isn’t feasible, we aim to reuse or recycle.

In addition to this, we also want to share examples of sustainable dermatology best practice with our members. To this end, we have established the BAD’s Green Prize, awarded at our Annual Meeting for the best green initiative in dermatology.

We also share advice on ‘green best practice’ for clinicians, researchers, and the dermatology services through our member communications.

Finally, we encourage clinicians to submit new developments in sustainable dermatology to our journals for publishing, these are the British Journal of Dermatology, Clinical and Experimental Dermatology, and Skin Health and Disease.

Greener NHS

In October 2020, the NHS committed to reaching carbon net zero, becoming the world’s first health service to do so. The Delivering a Net Zero Health Service report sets out the aims and targets of this commitment. More information on the Greener NHS initiative can be found here.