Mentoring to enhance carbon literacy in European healthcare
The lack of awareness, education, and training on sustainable healthcare are crucial barriers to achieving zero emissions in the healthcare sector. The Carbon management mentoring programme aims to overcome these barriers, by enhancing the carbon literacy of the healthcare sector. Through mentor-mentee relationships facilitated by HCWH Europe, the programme prepares and supports healthcare providers in calculating and managing the carbon emissions of their facilities, empowering healthcare facilities to integrate climate action into their planning, and building expertise in carbon management.
The programme started in 2022, when Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) Europe, in collaboration with the Departament de Salut Xàtiva Ontinyent (Spain), established the programme to support healthcare facilities in the Valencia region in Spain to calculate and manage their carbon footprint.
Throughout the programme, mentors support mentees in developing carbon management plans and empower individuals to drive climate action at their hospitals, pushing for ambitious carbon reduction targets within their organisations and beyond. Click here to read more about the previous editions of the programme.
Third edition: 2024-2025
After two successful editions, the project launched its third edition in September 2024. For the first time, it expanded its scope beyond Spain to include hospitals from Poland, Romania, and Estonia.
In this edition, the Hospital Lluís Alcanyís Hospital of Xàtiva - Departament de Salut Xàtiva Ontinyent (Spain) and the Wolica Healthcare Center for Lung Diseases and Tuberculosis (Poland) mentored the following facilities:
- SA Põhja-Eesti Regionaalhaigla - Estonia
- Tartu Ülikooli Kliinikum SA - Estonia
- POSUM - Poland
- HOSPICE House of Hope Foundation-HCS - Romania
This edition was successfully completed in March 2025, when the partners held a wrap-up event in Tallinn, Estonia.
Programme goals and tools
The programme aims to provide participants with the necessary knowledge and skills to calculate and prepare them to develop carbon management plans using the HCWH Climate Impact Checkup tool and HCWH Europe’s Healthcare Decarbonisation Toolkit: Experiences from the Mediterranean region.
Mentees have the opportunity to:
- Gain knowledge on carbon management
- Put knowledge into practice
- Receive support from mentor hospitals and HCWH Europe
- Learn from best practices
- Be part of a Community of Practice among participants
The programme consists of various workshops, an online course, and a programme wrap-up event to exchange knowledge, lessons learned and results.
The third edition was successfully completed in March 2025. The fourth edition of the programme will launch in 2025. Subscribe to our newsletters to stay up-to-date!
For more information, contact Andreas Ekvall.
Supporting partners
