Lack of time and resources are the main obstacles preventing vets around the country from increasing their efforts on sustainability, a new report has found.
The research was commissioned by XLVets Skillnet and XLVets, and funded by Skillnet Ireland as part of its work to ensure Irish businesses have the skills needed to deal with climate change.
The report found that the veterinary community is ready to play its part on the issue, but a shortage of vets in Ireland is not helping.
There are currently only 88% of the veterinary professionals needed to service the Irish market.
Vets
The survey of 55 XL Vets members focused on a range of issues surrounding sustainability.
77% of the respondents said that the issue of sustainability and climate change is either extremely important or very important to them personally.
However, the importance to their individual practices is not quite as high.
Despite this, the study found that the “seeds for real sustainable action” have been “well and truly sown”.
“This in turn indicates that our veterinary community is ready and willing to tackle sustainability in their practices sooner rather than later,” the report states.
36% of the vets admitted that they were struggling to do all that is expected of them in terms of helping to meet national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions targets.
Just 2% of respondents said that they are “taking a strong lead” on the issue in their communities.
“It is fair to assume that the veterinary community is going through a self-assessment phase on the issue of sustainability, which is always seen as a precursor to taking action,” the report states.
Along with a lack of knowledge and support, another barrier to improving sustainability, particularly for vets in rural areas, was a poor selection of sustainable transport options.
The research also included in-depth analysis of the carbon footprint of five veterinary practices.
It found that 72% of the combined carbon footprint was travel, followed by electricity at 21%.
Sustainability
47% of the vets felt that cost savings was an important or extremely important benefit from taking sustainable actions in their practice.
The respondents indicated a series of solutions and actions which they planned to take in the immediate future.
Some rural vets indicated that they are planning to switch from petrol and diesel vehicles to electric or hybrid options.
Other vets planned on putting monitoring systems or renewable energy options in place to reduce electricity wastage in their practices, particularly after hours.
Many respondents were planning to carry out a “full overhaul” of their existing recycling activities and review the use of single-use plastics, while others sought to reduce waste through paperless invoicing and consent forms.
Some respondents noted that they intend to start putting pressure on their suppliers to reduce waste and packaging, while others plan to also decrease the amount of packaging going out to customers.
The report urged all veterinary practices to assess where they stand on sustainability and choose the best path forward through a combination of the right tasks, polices, and decisions.