By Judy Scrine, Subgroup Founder and Chair, and Laura Higham, Founder and Director of Vet Sustain.
In this article, we introduce the work of Vet Sustain, before outlining how our equine subgroup will help practitioners to embed sustainability principles into veterinary work to help tackle planetary, social, and animal welfare challenges.
Who and what is Vet Sustain?
Vet Sustain is a not-for-profit social enterprise championing sustainability in the veterinary professions. Led by eight directors, the organisation was founded in 2019 by Laura Higham and is chaired by Ed Bailey.
Our work recognises the unique niche that veterinary professionals occupy as crucial agents of sustainability: we are multidisciplinary scientists and practitioners; we are highly trusted by the UK public (RCVS 2019); and, through our veterinary oath, have a duty to protect the welfare of the animals under our care, and to consider the impact of our actions on public health and the environment (RCVS, n.d.). Our influence can make a real difference in the personal, household, workplace, community, professional, and societal spheres (see Figure 1).
It’s clear we have a key role to play in tackling the multiple ethical and planetary challenges at our door. But despite evidence that 89% of veterinary professionals wish to play a more active role in the sustainability agenda (BVA 2019), many, including equine practitioners, don’t know where to start (Mair et al 2020; Higham et al, 2023). Vet Sustain was formed to help bridge this value-action gap.
The Vet Sustain Equine Subgroup
The Vet Sustain Equine Subgroup, VES, is one of our four working groups. VES was founded in early 2023 by Judy Scrine, who recognised the unique challenges and opportunities to drive sustainability in the equine sector. It also brought equine representation to Vet Sustain’s working groups, where it was previously lacking.
Figure 1: The veterinary spheres of influence.
What Do We Mean By “Sustainability”?
Sustainability is obviously a hugely complex and daunting subject, but it can perhaps be simply explained as “Enough, for all, forever”.
This definition paves the way to an ambitious and equitable view on sustainability, that doesn’t aim to simply ‘sustain’ the status quo, but strives for regeneration across the human, animal, and environmental domains. By shifting the goalposts towards regeneration, we aim to leave the planet and our society in a better state than when we found it, for future generations, and for all species. (Reed, 2007)
To make these broad concepts more applicable to veterinary work, Vet Sustain has devised the ‘6Ws’.
The ‘Six Ws’
To unite the actions of veterinary professionals, Vet Sustain’s work revolves around six goals for sustainability – or the ‘6Ws’ (Vet Sustain, 2020), aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (UN 2015). Our Goals highlight the ways in which veterinary professionals can, and do, play a key role in addressing the multiple challenges facing society:
Wildlife - Diverse and abundant wildlife
Conserve and enhance natural landscapes, habitats and biological diversity and abundance of wild terrestrial and aquatic plant and animal species.
Welfare - A good life for animals
Safeguard and advocate for the health and welfare, in life and at the point of death, of animals under our care and those that are affected by human activity.
Warming - Net zero warming
Implement and promote decarbonisation through energy efficiency, the generation and use of renewable energy, mitigation of global warming and sequestration of carbon.
Wellbeing - Health and wellbeing
Safeguard and enhance the physical and mental wellbeing of people and support a transition to livelihoods and lifestyles that are fit for the future.
Waste - A no-waste society
Minimise the usage and disposal of resources and materials, and support a transition to a circular economy.
Water - Enough clean water for all
Uphold best practice in fresh water conservation and protection to mitigate water stress and prevent water pollution.
So, it’s not just about the environment and decarbonising!
As well as addressing climate change, the 6Ws incorporate human health and wellbeing, which includes mental health, diversity and inclusion, public health and antimicrobial resistance, the human-animal bond, and animal-based livelihoods.
Sustainability also includes animal welfare. A crucial role for veterinary professionals is to ensure that transitions to more sustainable ways of living and working involve boosting animal welfare, rather than compromising it.
Can we really make a difference? Using carbon and land use as examples
Data is still emerging regarding the impacts of equine management, and the positive action veterinary professionals can help to catalyse.
However, estimates suggest that 1 million hectares (2.47 million acres) is grazed by horses in the UK (BHS 2018). This is based on an equine population of around 1 million horses [850,000 with passports (UK Gov 2025) plus an estimated 150,000 without passports, due to exemptions or non-compliance], and allowing an estimated one hectare of land per horse (BHS 2018).
This large land area under equine management and veterinary influence can be enhanced for biodiversity and carbon sequestration, through actions such as improving pasture diversity, tree and hedgerow planting and management, building soil health and soil organic carbon, conservation grazing using horses, and risk-based parasiticide use.
Horses in the UK are estimated to have a total “carbon hoofprint” of one million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2E) per year [a conservative estimate, based on research by Engel et al (2019), referenced by Prentis 2021], equating to 524 tonnes CO2E for all the animals under the care of each equine vet (Prentis 2021). This statistic underlines the magnitude of influence of each veterinary professional.
If each equine vet could make a modest 5% difference to those 524 tonnes, an amount that could be achievable with actions such as more efficient feeding strategies and better use of preventative medicine, it would mean a reduction of over 26 tonnes of CO2E per vet.
Add this to reducing our own personal carbon footprints, and those of our workplaces, then these numbers start to get very significant.
Are there other benefits for an equine practice in becoming more sustainable?
Improving sustainability in veterinary practice is likely to have numerous ripple effects, beyond the positive impacts themselves.
Workplace sustainability efforts can improve the physical and mental health of our team members (BITC, 2021), improve staff recruitment and retention, increase resource-use efficiency, generate financial savings, increase client recruitment and retention (Deluty et al, 2021), enhance animal welfare standards, and bring public recognition through the RCVS Practice Standards Scheme and Investors in the Environment awards (RCVS 2024; IIE 2025).
How can Vet Sustain help?
To avoid duplicating effort, Vet Sustain’s equine subgroup (VES) acts as a bridge between the different organisations, including the BEVA Sustainability Working Group and CANTER, with the aim of capitalising on each group’s strengths.
We also share resources and expertise. More specifically, we are currently building a practical toolkit for equine practices, including Vet Sustain resources and signposts towards valuable tools developed by other organisations. The toolkit will highlight:
● Vet Sustain’s carbon calculator for veterinary practices (already available for the UK, Denmark and New Zealand, in partnership with iiE and VetSalus), with a benchmarking feature to be introduced soon (Vet Sustain, 2024);
● Carbon calculator for equine husbandry - appropriate for any practice with in-patient facilities, as well as for equine clients (already available from Farm Carbon Toolkit, 2024);
● CPD presentation to inspire and enable sustainable actions within equine veterinary practice settings, for those starting their journey (in development);
● Greener Veterinary Practices Checklist (already available from Vet Sustain) with equine-specific links (coming soon);
● Greener Procurement List (already available) with independent equine-specific recommendations (coming soon);
● A series of fact sheets for equine practices, covering issues such as waste management, the greener operating theatre, and the use of parasiticides (coming soon). Already available: BEVA Protect Me and BEVA Protect Me Too, and the BEVA Guidelines: a sustainable approach to equine parasiticide treatment.
● A series of fact sheets for clients, covering issues such as feeding for horse health and the environment, and preventative horse health care (coming soon). Already available: A Sustainable Approach to Treating Skin Parasites in Horses, and A Sustainable Approach to Equine Wormers.
● The Five Point Plan for Equine Pasture Management, including how we can improve horse health with improved pasture management, increasing biodiversity and soil health (coming soon);
● A collection of sustainability webinars applicable to equine work (already available: the greener veterinary practice webinar series delivered in partnership with BVA, freely available from the Resources page on the Vet Sustain website); and
● Sustainability CPD for vets within education streams such as congresses (coming soon).
Conclusions
Veterinary professionals occupy a unique niche for promoting sustainability both within their workplaces, and within the sectors we influence – including the equine sector. There are numerous opportunities to embed sustainability into our daily work, supported by a growing suite of resources to help us on our journeys, including from Vet Sustain. VES is building a repository of guidance to ensure that our sustainability efforts can be tailored to equine veterinary workplaces, the clients we serve, and the animals we care for.
“Do the best you can until you know better, then when you know better, do better” – Maya Angelou
Learn more
To find out more about Vet Sustain, contact us, book one of courses, purchase our carbon calculator, and download free resources, visit the Vet Sustain website.