Helping Skin Analytics establish a Carbon Reduction Plan and prove the climate case for AI-powered care.

Overview

Skin Analytics have a clear mission: help more people survive skin cancer by improving access to dermatology care. They also have a growing recognition that how they deliver care had environmental implications worth understanding. Working with Seedling, they built their first formal Carbon Reduction Plan - and went a step further, commissioning a bespoke study to quantify the carbon impact of their AI-powered clinical pathways.

About Skin Analytics

“Skin Analytics is a health technology company with a mission to help more people survive skin cancer by improving patient access to dermatology care. We work with our partners in healthcare to build innovative skin cancer pathways, using AI to improve the early detection and assessment of skin cancer . Our partners include healthcare providers in the UK and Europe, including the NHS and Bupa, who rely on DERM – our AI as a medical device for skin cancer detection – to streamline dermatology pathways, reduce unnecessary referrals, and improve outcomes for their patients.”

“Sustainability is important across healthcare, particularly within the NHS – which has adopted a commitment to reaching net zero by 2045 across its supply chain.”

By enabling more skin cancer assessments to happen remotely - reducing the number of patients who need face-to-face appointments with a dermatologist - Skin Analytics saw a clear opportunity to support lower-carbon care delivery without compromising clinical outcomes.

"Our partners are increasingly prioritising sustainability, so understanding and reducing our carbon footprint is both a responsibility and a key part of delivering value."

The Objective

Skin Analytics needed to establish a formal Carbon Reduction Plan aligned with NHS net zero goals - not just to demonstrate their own commitment, but to support the sustainability expectations of the healthcare partners they work with. With no prior structured approach to emissions measurement in place, the starting point was building a reliable baseline from scratch.

“We had initial ambitions around sustainability, but we didn’t yet have a formalised Carbon Reduction Plan or a structured approach to measuring emissions across our services.”

The Challenge

“As this is our first year, a key challenge has been establishing a clear and reliable baseline and understanding our emissions at an organisational level.”

But Skin Analytics had an additional, unique requirement: they wanted to go beyond their own organisational footprint and understand the carbon impact of the clinical pathways their technology supports.

The bespoke pathway study added a further layer of complexity - requiring data from across multiple sources, careful validation of inputs, and pragmatic assumptions where data was incomplete, all while ensuring the methodology held up to scrutiny.

Why Skin Analytics Chose Seedling

Skin Analytics needed a partner who could handle both the standard demands of carbon footprinting and the more specialist requirements of a pathway-level emissions analysis. Off-the-shelf tools were not going to cut it.

"We were looking for a partner that could combine carbon expertise with practical, actionable insights that would help us develop a clear plan for reducing emissions, particularly in the context of healthcare pathways. Seedling's approach was collaborative and tailored, which stood out."

How Seedling Helped

1) Built a full-scope, GHG Protocol-aligned carbon footprint

Seedling worked with the Skin Analytics team to pull together data from across the organisation and build a comprehensive, GHG Protocol-aligned footprint covering Scopes 1, 2 and 3. For a technology business operating in the healthcare sector, this meant identifying and accurately capturing emissions from a range of sources - from energy and operations to business travel and supply chain activity.

2) Produced a formal Carbon Reduction Plan aligned with NHS net zero

With a baseline established and hotspots identified, Seedling helped Skin Analytics put a structured Carbon Reduction Plan in place - giving them a credible, documented framework for reducing emissions over time and a clear line of alignment with NHS sustainability commitments and PPN 006 requirements.

"Seedling helped us build a clear Carbon Reduction Plan (CRP) so we can make meaningful reductions and align ourselves with NHS net zero goals."

3) Delivered a bespoke pathway emissions study

Perhaps the most distinctive element of the process was the bespoke study Seedling developed to quantify emissions at a pathway level. By calculating and comparing the carbon generated from their pathways vs. traditional NHS appointments, Skin Analytics could draw meaningful, evidence-based conclusions about the environmental impact of their technology - findings with real weight in conversations with NHS and private healthcare partners that are keen to reduce their own emissions.

“This involved complex, data-driven calculations, aligning data from across multiple sources, validating inputs, and refining assumptions to ensure consistency and accuracy across scenarios, including making pragmatic assumptions where data was incomplete.”

The Impact

The process gave Skin Analytics both the organisational clarity they needed and the pathway-level data that sets them apart.

"We now have a much clearer understanding of our carbon footprint and where the biggest drivers of emissions sit. This will enable us to make more informed decisions and stronger conversations with partners/suppliers."

The pathway study produced some striking findings, specifically:

“The at-home patient pathway uses up to 86% less carbon than a traditional NHS face-to-face dermatology appointment. And a DERM assessment generates 95% less carbon than a teledermatology assessment by a dermatologist.”

This realisation is a compelling part of Skin Analytics' value proposition to healthcare partners who are under increasing pressure to demonstrate progress against net zero commitments.

The process also had an internal impact. While Skin Analytics is still in the early stages of implementing reduction initiatives, the measurement and planning work generated meaningful engagement across teams throughout the business.

“The process has helped engage teams across the business and we’re looking forward to continuing the journey and building on this foundation.”

Looking Ahead

With a baseline established and a Carbon Reduction Plan in place, Skin Analytics is now focused on translating that foundation into action.

"Our focus now is on implementing reduction initiatives, engaging our teams and suppliers, and delivering against our Carbon Reduction Plan. We are committed to making meaningful changes that reduce emissions over time and support our goal of reaching net zero."

Skin Analytics' Advice to Other Businesses

"Start now, it's never too late to make a change. Even SMEs can take meaningful steps and make a real difference."