Wednesday, March 6, 2024, 11:35 a.m
Düsseldorf – A new internet platform is giving NRW hospitals additional impetus in climate protection. This Wednesday the website www.klimaschutz-im-klinik.de was officially launched. This gives the clinics a versatile online platform on which they can find detailed information about successful climate protection measures in hospitals and share their own experiences. The central element of the platform is the opportunity for the hospitals’ climate protection managers to network with one another and thus engage in an intensive exchange of experiences. The website is based on the climate protection initiative in the hospital of the North Rhine-Westphalia Hospital Society (KGNW) of the same name and was funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MWIKE).
North Rhine-Westphalia’s Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, Mona Neubaur, explains: “The consequences of the climate crisis pose a major threat to the health of citizens. At the same time, the health sector is responsible for around five to six percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Germany. Many of the 330 hospitals in North Rhine-Westphalia have already begun the process of converting towards climate neutrality – for example by making their fleets climate-friendly or installing photovoltaic systems. The state supports the KGNW’s Climate Neutral Hospital initiative because it makes an important contribution to broadly implementing best practices in climate protection measures in hospitals.”
At the start of the new offer, KGNW Vice President Sascha Klein emphasizes: “The climate-neutral hospital is not a utopia, it is the result of many small and large steps. That’s why the new website klimaschutz-im-klinik.de offers the ideal opportunity to learn from the experiences of other hospitals. Because the goal of climate neutrality is so great that we have to pool our strengths and our expertise to achieve it. The clinics not only benefit from the pioneers in climate protection, but an open exchange has also developed. He now has a permanent address on the Internet and a powerful platform.” Klein thanked the MWIKE for supporting this initiative, which made the implementation of this project possible within two months.
The new online portal is primarily aimed at management, those responsible for climate protection and anyone interested in the hospitals, but also contains an extensive knowledge base for anyone else who is interested. It offers users basic information about the various fields of action that are crucial for the path to becoming a climate-neutral hospital. As practical examples, the projects that have already been submitted show, for example, what climate protection effects the individual measures have achieved, what cost framework and what implementation time was required. Numerous specialist information, checklists, literature, videos, event information and current news round off the practice-oriented offering.
In order to contact other climate protection managers, receive detailed information on individual projects or enter your own measures in the database, you need to register once. “This platform thrives on exchange and on as many hospitals as possible sharing their experiences. That’s why we invite all experts to enter their knowledge and projects here,” says KGNW Vice President Sascha Klein. He is convinced that the new portal klimaschutz-im-klinik.de will meet an urgent need for experts. The KGNW is currently training numerous new climate protection managers in the “KLIK green NRW” program, who are receiving important inspiration for their new tasks.
The starting point for the initiative is the “climate-neutral hospital” target presented by the KGNW in 2022, for which the Wuppertal Institute has described a framework for action. The fields of action outlined in this report form the basic framework for the measures database of the new portal. Extensive search options allow registered users to delve deeper into their area of interest. Newly entered measures are verified before publication.