Our Shared Responsibility – The Urgent Necessity of Global Environmentally Sustainable Kidney Care
The recently published Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change1 informs that the climate emergency is human caused, rapidly progressing, will worsen until at least mid-century regardless of future emissions scenarios, and heralds massive, unprecedented and cascading impacts on planetary and human health.
GREEN-K – Global Environmental Evolution in Nephrology and Kidney Care – 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 goal through a global, collaborative, and inclusive multidisciplinary working group.
1 IPCC: Summary for Policymakers [Pörtner H-O, Roberts DC, Poloczanska ES, Mintenbeck K, Tignor M, Alegria A, Craig M, Langsdorf S, Löschke S, Möller V, Okem A, (eds.)]. In: Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Pörtner H-O, Roberts DC, Tignor M, Poloczanska ES, Mintenbeck K, Alegria A, Craig M, Langsdorf S, Löschke S, Möller V, Okem A, Rama B (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press; 2022:3–33. doi: 10.1017/9781009325844.001
Mission and Vision
The ‘GREEN-K’ initiative – Global Environmental Evolution in Nephrology and Kidney Care – has a vision of ‘Sustainable kidney care for a healthy planet and healthy kidneys’, and mission to ‘Promote and support environmentally sustainable and resilient kidney care globally through advocacy, education, and collaboration’.
This initiative will be inclusive and global, focusing on collaborative action to develop a coordinated plan to achieve low carbon kidney services across our spectrum of care.
more about green-k
Read more about the GREEN-K initiative in these articles:
GREEN-K Steering Committee
- Caroline E. Stigant | Division of Nephrology, Island Health Authority, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada| Canadian Society of Nephrology
- Katherine A. Barraclough | Department of Nephrology, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne Health, Parkville, Australia; School of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia| Asian Pacific Society of Nephrology and the Australia New Zealand Society of Nephrology
- Mark Harber | University College of London Department of Renal Medicine, Royal Free Hospital, London, United Kingdom | United Kingdom Kidney Association
- Suren Kanagasundaram | Consultant, Renal Services, The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK; United Kingdom Kidney Association – Clinical co-chair, Sustainable Kidney Care programme
- Charu Malik | International Society of Nephrology
- Vivekanand Jha | The George Institute for Global Health, UNSW, New Delhi, India; School of Public Health, Imperial College, London, UK; Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India | International Society of Nephrology
- Raymond C. Vanholder | Nephrology Section, Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium and European Kidney Health Alliance (EKHA), Brussels, Belgium | European Kidney Health Alliance
- David S. Goldfarb | Clinical Chief, Nephrology, NYULMC; Professor of Medicine & Physiology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine | American Society of Nephrology
- Ivo Laranjinha | Hospital de Santa Cruz, Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Ocidental · Nephrology Department | European Renal Association
- Magdalena Madero | Chief, Nephrology Division, Instituto Nacional de Cardiología Ignacio Chávez in Mexico City, Mexico | Latin-American Society of Nephrology and Hypertension (SLANH)
- Abdellatif Sidi Aly | President of Mauritania National Organ & Tissue Donor and Transplant Ministry; Director-General, Polyclinique Medipôle Nouakchoot-SSG, Mauritania | African Association of Nephrology (AFRAN)
- Winston Fung | Associate Consultant, Nephrology, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong; Clinical Assistant Professor, Medicine & Therapeutics, Chinese University of Hong Kong | International Society of Nephrology
GREEN-K Social Media Leads
- Anoushka Krishnan | Royal Perth Hospital, Australia
- Nathan Berman Parks | Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas, Mexico
- Fernanda Arce-Amaré | ISN Social Media Teams Manager, Mexico
The ISN is delighted to partner with likeminded organizations to promote sustainable kidney care globally.
The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare (CSH) is a leading independent, non-profit organization dedicated to reducing the carbon footprint of healthcare services and promoting sustainable practices within the sector.
Invitation to Review the ISN-led GREEN-K Global Kidney Care Sustainable Procurement Strategy
Deadline: March 30, 2026
Overarching aim: to improve global kidney health by increasing access to, affordability of, and environmental performance of all kidney care goods and services
Who we are: GREEN-K (Global Environmental Evolution in Nephrology and Kidney Care) is a global collaborative and inclusive ISN led initiative with a vision of ‘Sustainable kidney care for a healthy planet and healthy kidneys’
Specific aims:
- To introduce a joint procurement concept with benefits to all kidney care stakeholders
- To drive improvement toward sustainability, equity, and climate resilience in kidney care products and services (pharmaceuticals for all stages of chronic kidney disease, dialysis equipment and consumables, hardware, services and transport)
- To provide all kidney care programs and procurers with unified, expert-derived, forward-looking, ethical and environmentally-friendly procurement criteria (and eventually scoring matrices)
Why Procurement?
- Over 70% of both health and kidney care emissions originate ‘upstream’ or ‘downstream’ from direct patient care.1 Higher environmental impacts are often linked to higher financial costs.
- The World Health Organization has positioned health systems as an essential part of the climate solution. 2 Numerous goals can be addressed through innovations in procurement.
Our Asks of You:
Please read the Joint Statement on Procurement for Environmentally and Ethically Sound Kidney Care Products and Services (JSP) and share feedback via this form by March 30, 2026.
References
-
Karliner J, Slotterback S, Boyd R, Ashby B, Steele K. Health care’s climate footprint. Health Care Without Harm and ARUP. 2019 Sep.
-
World Health Organization Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly 15 May 2025. Climate Change and Health. Draft Global Action Plan on Climate Change and Health. Available at: https://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA78/A78_4Add2-en.pdf, accessed December 23, 2025
The ISN GREEN-K initiative has a vision of sustainable kidney care for a healthy planet and healthy kidneys, and mission to promote and support environmentally sustainable and resilient kidney care globally through advocacy, education, and collaboration. As part of the educational part of the initiative, GREEN-K presents a series of 6 recorded webinars to be published in late 2024 and early 2025 as part of a curriculum. This curriculum is available on the ISN Academy.
The GREEN-K initiative was launched with support from:
