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. 2025 Apr;38(3):815-825.
doi: 10.1007/s40620-025-02280-y. Epub 2025 Jun 5.

2023 European Kidney Forum: The future of kidney care - investing in green nephrology to meet the European Green Deal targets

Olivier Philippe van Vredendaal  1   2 , Alicia Bé  3   4 , Ilaria de Barbieri  5 , Daniel Gallego  6 , Fiona Loud  7 , Giorgina Barbara Piccoli  8 , Fokko Wieringa  9   10   11 , Raymond Vanholder  3   12
Affiliations

2023 European Kidney Forum: The future of kidney care - investing in green nephrology to meet the European Green Deal targets

Olivier Philippe van Vredendaal et al. J Nephrol. 2025 Apr.

Abstract

The European Kidney Health Alliance's 2023 annual Policy Forum brought together relevant stakeholder groups and examined the impact of the environment on kidney health and of kidney replacement therapies on the environment; the environmental footprint of kidney care; and the role of the European Union (EU) in facilitating the transition to sustainable healthcare. Interventions made by nephrologists, patient representatives, renal nurses, scientists, civil society representatives, medical technology specialists, and EU policymakers and administrators considered themes that included the burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the EU, the link between kidney health and environment, waste production and resource use, organ transplantation, technological innovation, and the role that the EU has to play in addressing the burden of kidney disease and fostering more sustainable healthcare practices. The 2023 European Kidney Forum illustrated the broad consensus among diverse stakeholders operating within the kidney health landscape on the critical need to adopt a more sustainable approach to kidney care in the EU. The Forum also highlighted the cruciality of EU policymakers' commitment to improving the sustainability of the healthcare sector through EU policies, tools and initiatives. Panel discussions pointed to the strong consensus between different stakeholders in the kidney health domain on the need for action to better prevent chronic kidney disease; improve the EU's organ donation and transplantation landscape; and recognise and address the substantial environmental impact linked to the management and treatment of CKD.

Keywords: EU; Environmental health; Innovation; Sustainability; Transplantation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: Authors OvV and AB have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article. Authors OvV and AB are employed as Associate and Senior Associate, respectively, in the EU Public Affairs Health and Life Sciences Practice of DGA Group (Belgium). Author IdB has no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article. Author IdB serves as President of the European Dialysis and Transplant Nurses Association/European Renal Care Association (Switzerland). Author DG has no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article. Author DG serves as President of the European Kidney Patients’ Federation (Spain) and Spanish Kidney Patient Federation (Spain). Author FL is employed as Policy Director for Kidney Care UK and serves as voluntary Chair of the West Hertford Hospital Organ Donation Committee (United Kingdom) and Co-Chair of the stakeholder forum of the Implementation Strategy Group for Organ Utilisation (United Kingdom). Author FL previously served as voluntary Vice Chair of the Lister Hospital Kidney Patient Association (United Kingdom). Author GBP is employed as Chief of the Nephrology Service at Centre Hospitalier Le Mans (France) and serves as Chair of the European Renal Association European Renal Nutrition Group, and as Chair of the Italian Society of Nephrology Conservative Treatment Group (2022 – 2024). Author GBP holds consultantships for Fresenius Kabi, Dr Shahr, and Theradial. Author FW is full-time employed as Principle Scientist in Health Technology by Foundation IMEC the Netherlands (the Netherlands) and holds a part-time position as Associate Professor of Medical Technology within the Nephrology Department of the University Medical Center of Utrecht, co-financed by IMEC and the Dutch Kidney Foundation (the Netherlands). Author FW also serves as voluntary Chair of Working Group 3 “Groundbreaking Innovation” of the European Kidney Health Alliance and as uncompensated Board Member of the Willem Kolff Foundation (the Netherlands). Author FW is also involved with the Neokidney Initiative of the Dutch Kidney Foundation and helped write the international Innovation Roadmap of the US-based Kidney Health Initiative (KHI). Author FW is also affiliated with the ongoing related projects MI-TRAM (funded by a KidneyX Prize), KIDNEW (EU HORIZON-EIC-2022 Pathfinder project 101099092), and NXTGEN HighTech Biomed04 “Artificial Organs” (funded by the Dutch National Governmental Growth Fund). Author RV is an advisor to AstraZeneca, Glaxo Smith Kline, Fresenius Kabi, Novartis, Kibow, Baxter, Nipro, Fresenius Medical Care and Nextkidney. Ethical approval: Approval from the institutional review board was not required for this article. Human and animal rights: This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. Informed consent: For this retrospective review, formal consent is not required.

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References

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