Environmental Sustainability and Climate Resilience Policy Template for Australian General Practices

What's in this template?

This is an environmental sustainability and climate resilience policy for Australian general practices, built from the RACGP Standards for general practices (6th edition), published 26 August 2026. It covers criterion F3 in full (F3.A climate resilience, F3.B environmental impact, F3.C sustainability leadership) and the same theme where it reappears in three other standards: CG4.C sustainable clinical practice, PP6.B environmental information for patients, and CQI1.B environmental performance, plus the aspirational CQI1.C.

F3 is new in its entirety. It has no 5th edition equivalent, which means there is no existing practice policy to adapt: this document is written from the 6th edition criteria and guidance as published, and every measure in it comes from the RACGP's own examples rather than a generic corporate sustainability template.

The template runs to 12 numbered sections and 2 fillable appendices:

1. Purpose: the four criteria the policy answers, and where accreditation currently stands
2. Scope: team, premises, operations, purchasing, travel, patient information
3. How this relates to the Business Continuity Plan and Emergency Response Plan: the boundary table, and how climate risks feed both plans
4. Sustainability leadership and accountability: the named F3.C lead, their responsibilities and their reporting line
5. Climate resilience (F3.A): identifying climate risks by location, resilience measures across emergency preparedness, infrastructure, operational systems, patient engagement, staff training and collaboration, plus reviewing and testing
6. Reducing our environmental impact (F3.B): the energy hierarchy, auditing and baselines, heating and cooling, appliances and lighting, travel, procurement, paper and e-waste, waste and water, an owner-occupied subsection, carbon offsets, and sustainability in business planning
7. Environmentally sustainable clinical practice (CG4.C): supporting the clinical team, with the infection control boundary stated
8. Patient information (PP6.B): what the practice shares with patients about environmental issues relevant to their care
9. Monitoring, reporting and review (CQI1.B and CQI1.C): the assess, act and report loop, with CQI1.C labelled aspirational
10. Roles and responsibilities: sustainability lead, owner or principal, practice manager, clinical team, all team members
11. Related documents
12. Approval and review: version control and a signature block

Appendix A: Climate risk register is a fillable table for risk, likelihood, impact on operations and continuity of care, resilience strategy, owner and next review date.

Appendix B: Sustainability actions and progress log is a fillable table for strategy, baseline, action taken, status, and the date the assessment was reported to practice leadership.

Editable placeholder fields

Yellow-highlighted {{placeholder}} fields for {{practice_name}}, {{abn}}, {{practice_address}}, {{sustainability_lead}}, {{practice_leadership_role}}, {{environmental_metrics}}, {{approved_by}}, {{effective_date}}, {{next_review_date}} and the sign-off dates.

Three documents, three different questions

Practices already hold two documents that deal with disruption. This is a third, and it answers a different question from either of them.

The relationship matters more than the difference. F3.A's climate risk work feeds the other two plans: each risk you record in Appendix A is a scenario the continuity plan and the emergency response plan are expected to cover. A flood risk in the register should turn up in the continuity plan as a loss-of-premises scenario and in the emergency response plan as a closure and evacuation procedure. The RACGP guidance for F3.A says the same thing, directing practices to integrate climate risks such as bushfires, floods and heatwaves into their response plans under criterion F2.

So the practical test is direction of travel. If the question is "what could the climate do to us over the next few years, and what are we doing about it", that is this policy. If the question is "the water is rising now", that is the emergency response plan. If it is "we cannot use the building for three weeks", that is the continuity plan.

What the RACGP 6th edition actually requires

F3 Environmental sustainability and responsibility

The consumer expectation statement behind F3 reads: "I expect that this practice is aware of its environmental impact and is focused on minimising this."

• F3.A: the practice is aware of and takes steps to address or improve its climate resilience. It identifies climate-related risks to its operations, and implements strategies to improve climate resilience.
• F3.B: the practice is aware of and takes steps to minimise its environmental impact. It documents strategies aimed at improving its environmental impact and reducing direct and indirect carbon greenhouse gas emissions.
• F3.C: the practice has at least one member of the practice team who has primary responsibility for engaging in and promoting the environmental sustainability of the practice.

The guidance under F3.B is a long list of suggestions rather than requirements, adapted from the RACGP's Greening up: Environmental sustainability in general practice. It splits into measures any practice can take (behavioural, operational, team-based) and measures that need control of the premises (building upgrades, energy sourcing, water systems). The template follows that split so tenants can delete what they cannot act on. It also carries the guidance's energy hierarchy, which orders actions as reduce unnecessary use, improve efficiency, then switch to renewables, and its observation that general energy use is the largest component of the non-clinical carbon footprint of general practice.

The same theme in three other standards

• CG4.C (new) asks the practice to support the clinical team to adopt clinical practices that are environmentally sustainable and climate resilient.
• PP6.B (new) asks the practice to share information with patients about environmental issues relevant to the healthcare they receive.
• CQI1.B (new) asks the practice to assess and act on its environmental performance to track progress toward sustainability goals and compliance with its documented strategies, and to report that progress to practice leadership.
• CQI1.C (new, aspirational) asks the practice to measure environmental-impact metrics to assess and manage its overall environmental footprint. It is one of only three aspirational criteria in the four core standards, so it is not required for accreditation.

Where accreditation actually stands

Practices are still accredited against the 5th edition. The RACGP has said that transition arrangements under the National General Practice Accreditation Scheme, including timing and accreditation requirements, will be communicated by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, and nothing has been published. F3 is not assessable today, and no compliance deadline exists. Our 6th edition contents map and migration guide cover the full picture.

That is an argument for starting now rather than waiting, for two reasons that pull in opposite directions on cost:

F3.C costs almost nothing. It is a role assignment. Name someone, write down what the role involves, and the criterion is answered in one line. An assessor can check it in one question, which also means it is the sort of thing that is obvious when it is missing.

F3.B and CQI1.B cannot be bought late. F3.B wants documented strategies, and CQI1.B wants assessed progress against those strategies reported to practice leadership. Progress needs a baseline and a history behind it. A log started the week before an assessment shows a policy; a log with two years of dated entries shows a practice that does this. Starting the log while nothing is assessable is the cheapest version of this work you will ever do.

How to customise this template

1. Download the Word document and replace every {{placeholder}}.
2. Name your sustainability lead in Section 4 and write their reporting line. This is F3.C, and it is the fastest part of the whole document to finish.
3. Cut Section 6 down. The measures listed are the RACGP's own suggestions, and they are suggestions. Delete everything the practice is not going to do. A short list the team follows is better evidence than a long one nobody actions. Delete subsection 6.9 entirely if you lease your premises.
4. Fill in Appendix A for your location. A practice in a bushfire zone and a practice on a flood plain do not have the same register. Work through the RACGP's examples (temperature extremes, flooding, cyclones, bushfires, storms, infectious disease, infrastructure failure, supply chain interruption) and keep the ones that apply.
5. Carry those risks across into your business continuity plan and emergency response plan as scenarios. If a risk in Appendix A has no matching scenario in either plan, that is a gap in the plan.
6. Discuss Section 7 with the clinical team before publishing it. Clinical measures are clinician-led, and the section should record what clinicians have agreed to, not what the practice would prefer.
7. Start Appendix B immediately, even if the first entries are baselines with no progress yet.
8. Set your review cycle and add a review trigger for when the Commission publishes the transition arrangements.

Related templates and tools

• Business Continuity Plan: how the practice keeps operating through a disruption once it happens. The climate risks in Appendix A of this policy belong in its scenario list.
• Emergency Response Plan: what the team does during an emergency, minute by minute. Bushfire, flood and heatwave risks identified here become procedures there.
• RACGP Standards 6th edition: what is in it: the contents map of all five standards, all 35 criteria sets, and which criteria are new.
• RACGP 6th edition migration guide: what changes for an existing practice, including the four places environmental sustainability turns up.
• RACGP Accreditation Readiness Quiz: a baseline against the 5th edition criteria you are still assessed on today.

Frequently asked questions

Is an environmental sustainability policy required right now?

No. Practices are still accredited against the RACGP Standards for general practices (5th edition), which has no equivalent to F3. The 6th edition was published on 26 August 2026, and transition arrangements under the National General Practice Accreditation Scheme have not been published by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. No date has been announced. Your accrediting agency will confirm which edition your next assessment runs against.

What is F3?

F3 Environmental sustainability and responsibility is a criteria set in the Foundations of general practice standard of the 6th edition. It has three criteria, all new: F3.A on climate resilience, F3.B on minimising environmental impact through documented strategies to reduce direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions, and F3.C on having at least one team member with primary responsibility for environmental sustainability.

Who should be the sustainability lead?

F3.C asks for at least one member of the practice team with primary responsibility for engaging in and promoting environmental sustainability. It does not specify a role, and it does not have to be a clinician. In most practices the practice manager or a nurse with an interest in it is the natural fit. The RACGP guidance also suggests climate champions or a green team for practices large enough to support one. What matters is that a named person holds it and that their responsibilities are written down.

What counts as a documented strategy under F3.B?

A written statement of what the practice is doing to reduce its environmental impact, specific enough that someone can check whether it happened. "We will reduce energy use" is not a strategy. "We changed all halogen globes to LEDs by March, set winter heating to 20 to 22 degrees Celsius, and switched off standby power at the wall each night" is. The template's Section 6 is where those strategies live, and Appendix B is where the practice records the baseline, the action and the result.

Do we have to measure our carbon emissions?

No. Measuring environmental-impact metrics is CQI1.C, which is one of three aspirational criteria in the four core standards and is not required for accreditation. What is required under CQI1.B is that the practice assesses progress toward its sustainability goals and compliance with its documented strategies, acts on that assessment, and reports it to practice leadership. If your practice does choose to measure, the RACGP guidance points to a free online carbon-footprint calculator and notes that professional audits are expensive and unlikely to be cost-effective for smaller practices.

How is this different from our business continuity plan?

The continuity plan answers how the practice keeps operating through a disruption once it happens. This policy answers how the practice reduces its environmental impact and builds resilience to climate-related risks over time. They are connected: the climate risk register in Appendix A produces the scenarios your continuity plan and emergency response plan need to cover. Work through the sustainability policy first, then update the other two with what the register turns up.

Does the 5th edition require any of this?

No. F3, CG4.C, PP6.B, CQI1.B and CQI1.C are all classified as New in the RACGP's mapping of the 6th edition to the 5th, meaning there is no 5th edition content behind them. If your next assessment is against the 5th edition, none of this will be rated. That is the reason to start with the cheap parts (name the lead, open the log) rather than the expensive ones.

Can we use this for AGPAL or QPA accreditation?

Both AGPAL and QPA assess against the RACGP Standards, so this template will be relevant once the 6th edition transition arrangements are published and your practice is assessed against it. Until then it is preparation, and neither agency will rate F3 at a 5th edition assessment. Check with your accrediting agency about which edition applies to your next cycle before relying on either edition for evidence.