Nurses lead on climate and health education
Nurses across Europe have educated over 4,000 health professionals on climate change and its impacts on human health. This growing movement is the Nurses Climate Challenge (NCC) Europe.
The NCC Europe provides access to a free, comprehensive, and growing set of easy-to-use resources that support nurses in educating their colleagues on climate and health. The initiative aims to create a movement of health professionals who want to take action to protect the health of their patients and communities from the worst impacts of climate change.
“The Nurses Climate Challenge provided me with a community of like-minded, inspiring, and passionate nurses. The sharing of information, innovation, and ideas across Europe and the globe has been invaluable in helping my hospital on our sustainability journey. The team are so supportive and empowering, and the resources are so helpful. It’s incredible the change that a few dedicated people can make!”
- Sarah Scanlan, Nurse Climate Champion and Green Lead, Climate Officer - Children’s Health Ireland (CHI)
Nurses can be powerful advocates for change, influencing policymakers and other sectors. Their voices are particularly powerful, as nurses are consistently recognised as one of the most trusted professionals and make up 50% of the healthcare workforce worldwide.
“We as nurses can set the ball rolling towards climate change awareness and action. To initiate transformative processes as change agents, the profession itself must be educated about the topic. That's why I'm involved with the NCC to do this education work.”
- Nadja Körner, Nurse Climate Champion and Nursing teacher - education B. A.
The NCC Europe supports European nurses to educate their colleagues by creating new resources and making them available in additional languages. The NCC Europe website and key resources are now available in German and will soon be made available in French and Spanish.
