Going Further Together

A Sustainable Kidney Care Committee has been set up within the UK Kidney Association (UKKA), in partnership with the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare and the Sustainable Healthcare Coalition. The aim of this committee is to develop and implement a framework to support UK renal services to meet the NHS England’s net zero goal. The main objective is to inspire and empower members of the kidney care community to take action for sustainability.

The International Society of Nephrology GREEN-K – Global Environmental Evolution in Nephrology and Kidney Care – committee calls on the development of climate resilient kidney care systems that function through accountable, sustainable low carbon health care, and propose a pathway to achieve this through a global, collaborative, and inclusive multidisciplinary working group. This global, inclusive initiative has a vision of “Sustainable kidney care for a healthy planet and kidneys,” with the mission to “Promote and support environmentally sustainable and resilient kidney care globally through advocacy, education, and collaboration.”

Through collaboration with ISN GREEN-K, the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare and Sustainable Healthcare Coalition has published a guidance document for kidney units: 12 Steps to a Greener Kidney Unit.

12 Steps to Green a Kidney Unit: Read More

The Sustainable Healthcare Coalition has worked with Pure Health, Maverex and AstraZeneca to look at the profile of kidney disease in the UAE as world leaders and policy makers were due to gather in Dubai for the UNFCCC COP28. The discussion paper  we produced, assessing the health, health system and environmental burdens that chronic kidney disease poses in the country, brings together learning from studies by the paper’s partners and others to shine a spotlight on routes to reduce those burdens.

The Sustainable Healthcare Coalition collaboration with Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NUTH) delivered a good picture of what in-centre haemodialysis looks like through a sustainability lens, but it is only one part of the whole renal care pathway puzzle. Further work is needed to assess the footprints, and identify opportunities and barriers to change, for the other components of kidney care. The journey may have started, but it is not over by any means and the need to get on with finding sustainable healthcare solutions and implement them at scale is getting ever more urgent as we try to improve care for renal patients and stay within a 1.5°C world.