The French healthcare performance agency ANAP (Agence nationale d’appui à la performance des établissements de santé et médico-sociaux) held the very firstJournée nationale des soins éco-responsables — the national day of eco-responsible care — on Tuesday June 30, 2026. The event took place at the Beffroi de Montrouge, on the edge of Paris, and drew around 700 participants from the French (and Dutch!) hospital and healthcare sector.

Why this day came about

Healthcare is responsible for roughly 8% of national greenhouse gas emissions in France — around 50 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent per year. According to the national roadmap for the ecological planning of the healthcare system, nearly 45% of that footprint comes from care delivery itself (treatments, hospital stays, consultations), with the remaining 55% coming from medicines and medical devices. To help reduce that impact, ANAP has long been developing national guidelines, best practices, and concrete tools for “eco-design” of care.

The day on June 30 was meant to bring those efforts together in one large gathering: moving from intention to action, as the organization itself put it.

The program

From the morning till the afternoon, plenary sessions, real-world case studies, and hands-on ‘ateliers’ (workshops) followed one another. Among others, ANAP deputy director-general Emeline Flinois opened the program. The afternoon featured twelve themed workshops covering surgery, operating theatres and anaesthesia, medical imaging, pharmacy, laboratory diagnostics, maternity care, elderly care, and home care.

One of the speakers was dr. Nicole Hunfeld, Principal Investigator of ESCH-R, a research consortium focused on making hospitals more circular. Hunfeld, who in the Netherlands is affiliated with Erasmus MC as a hospital pharmacist and chief sustainability officer for the intensive care unit, presented on how Dutch healthcare is moving toward greater circularity — and the role ESCH-R plays in that as a large research programme working to reduce single-use materials and close material loops within hospitals. Her contribution reflected the international character of the day, which also featured experiences from outside France.

What’s next

ANAP announced it will publish further national guidelines in the coming months. The organization intends to make this first edition a recurring annual event for the French healthcare sector.

Sources: ANAP (anap.fr), La Veille Acteurs de Santé