Daphne Kick Off meeting in Florence (Italy)

Over thirty delegates from ten partner organisations from Sweden, Romania, Greece, Poland, Belgium, Ireland, Ukraine and Serbia (online) attended the kick-off meeting of the DAPHNE project on 28-29 May 2024 in Florence.

The first day of the meeting, held at the premises of the historic Fuligno educational centre, was attended by representatives from all partner countries, and the project leader, the Tuscany Energy Consortium (CET), was represented by Director Luca Perni, Minister of Health of the Tuscany Region Simone Bezzini and representatives of Tuscan healthcare companies – Claudio Papei and Cristian Marri. During the opening speech, Simone Bezzini emphasised that the issues addressed by the DAPHNE project have strategic relevance for Tuscany and highlighted the importance of decarbonising the healthcare sector to improve environmental protection, public health and the sustainability of the entire healthcare system.

Main part of the first day of the event was dedicated to the presentation of the partners and the DAPHNE project: issues and problems to be solved, methodology and local contexts and perspectives. A Learning Café workshop was also held that day, which provided an open space for learning and sharing the vision and expectations of the project. The afternoon session started with the presentation of Mireia Figueras Alsius, Climate Programme Manager at Health Care Without Harm Europe, who presented the “Global Road Map for Health Care Decarbonisation”. This document is a tool that sets the direction for decarbonisation and describes 7 high-impact actions that will be analysed by the DAPHNE project.

On the second day, the project partners took part in a study visit to the Compostaggia Hospital in Poggibonsi, Province of Siena, where they learnt about good practices implemented by the local authorities of south-east Tuscany. The study visit was introduced by a presentation of the Energy Manager of the Local Health Authority, who explained the principles and specific measures implemented to improve the energy efficiency of the hospital, such as the cogeneration system, the replacement of lighting with LED lamps or the photovoltaic installation above the car park.

The kick-off meeting of the DAPHNE project in Florence was a great opportunity to meet each other and discuss upcoming project activities together.