Further reading and resources for the Climate & Health Toolkit

This section draws together additional resources related to the climate and health crises that may help you to understand, plan and act on these interconnected agendas.  

It contains:  

Climate and Health Coalition Associate Partners  

Business for Health (BFH) 

Business-led coalition supporting long-term sustainable innovation and investment in preventative health and care. Its aim is to enhance the health and economic resilience of the UK, catalysing and facilitating business contributions to enhance healthy life expectancy and reduce health & wellbeing inequalities. 

Business Framework for Health/Index report

ESHG Framework

Innovation Ecosystem

Blog

Business Fights Poverty (BFP) 

Brings together businesses, NGOs, and individuals worldwide to address poverty and build a sustainable future through collaboration. They curate purposeful collaboration to help companies and their partners access the insights and relationships they need to unlock new opportunities for business and social impact. 

Case Studies from the CAF movement

Reports and publications 

Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) 

International nongovernmental organisation (NGO) that works to transform health care worldwide so that it reduces its environmental footprint, becomes a community anchor for sustainability, and a leader in the global movement for environmental health and justice. With regional offices on four continents, partners around the world, and global and regional initiatives, HCWH is leading the global sustainable health care movement. 

Resources HCWH

Kaiser Permanente

A health care company providing high-quality health care and coverage for more than 75 years. By connecting care with coverage, they pioneered a new model for health care, where things are designed to work together — and help their members thrive. Their care model enables their teams to think and work as one, coordinating your care seamlessly, so you don’t have to — and delivering better care when it matters most. 

Health and Wellness

Malaria No More & Forecasting Healthy Futures

Charity that envisions a world where no one dies from a mosquito bite. More than a decade into their mission, their work has contributed to historic progress toward this goal. Now, they’re mobilising the political commitment, funding, and innovation required to achieve what would be one of the greatest humanitarian accomplishments – ending malaria within our generation. Forecasting Healthy Futures (FHF), spearheaded by Malaria No More, is a growing coalition of global health, technology, and public sector partners coming together to bring greater attention to the inequities at the intersection of global health and climate change among policy makers and thought leaders across sectors and to promote proactive, resilient solutions that use integrated data and artificial intelligence to anticipate and mitigate the worst health effects of a warming planet. 

Partners in the malaria fight

My Green Lab

Non-profit organisation that is fundamentally and permanently improving the sustainability of scientific research. As a non-profit organization, they were formed to unify and lead scientists, vendors, designers, energy providers, and others in a common drive toward a world in which all research reflects the highest standards of social and environmental responsibility. Run “for scientists, by scientists,” they leverage their credibility and track record to develop standards, oversee their implementation, and inspire the many behavioural changes that are needed throughout the scientific community.   

Resources on waste, energy, water, green chemistry, partners and other topics 

Ride for their Lives

International collaboration of healthcare providers riding together to explore the actions we must take to protect the planet for their patients and children. Through their days of cycling, they build hope, develop resilience, celebrate success, and spark constructive conversation. They have grown into an international frontline movement energising and inspiring action on air pollution and the wider climate and nature crisis. 

Impact

Sustainable Healthcare Coalition

Partnership of healthcare companies and other health agencies drawn together that looks for the greatest opportunities to inspire sustainable practices in healthcare through the collaboration of its members. The partnership learns through evaluation and promotes stories of impact. 
Focusing on key obstacles and opportunities, the partnership shares data and insights and develops best-practice guidance for use in healthcare systems and their supply chain partners. 

Resources

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development

Global CEO-led organisation of more than 200 leading companies & partners that brings together transformational organisations to form a global community that shifts the systems they work within towards a better future. Their members push the boundaries of what businesses can achieve by taking action to limit the climate crisis, restore nature and tackle inequality.  

Resources and publications

Further Resources 

Private Sector section and narrative 

Driving Co-Benefits for Climate and Health. 2022 Update: How the Private Sector Can Accelerate Progress, Climate and Health Coalition (2022). 

In this 2022 report, the Climate and Health Coalition reviews progress, highlights some encouraging examples of integrated action on climate and health which deserve to be widely replicated, and details actions business can take to seize the initiative and make change happen. 

Climate + Health: The Business Case for Action, BSR (2018) 

Climate change's far-reaching impact on global health is underscored in this paper, utilising data and case studies to illuminate its consequences for businesses across sectors. 

Business Leadership Brief For Healthy Planet, Healthy People,UNGC (2019). 

‘This provides a holistic approach and outlines concrete actions for companies to embed health and empowerment in their policies, systems, and operations.’ 

Business Framework for Health/Index, Business for Health (2021). 

The primary aim of the Framework is to assess how businesses contribute to health and advocate for the role of business in fostering a healthier nation. Acknowledging that health is fundamental to wellbeing and economic prosperity, the Framework and Business Index seek to highlight effective business-led health interventions, outlining the advantages for both employee health and business expansion, including climate-related benefits. 

Tackling Climate Change is the Greatest Global Health Opportunity of the Twenty-First Century - An Empowering Business Narrative and Call for Health Resilient Climate Action, UNGC (2021). 

‘Reminding the business case for taking integrated climate and health action, it provides guidance on how companies can deliver climate and health co-benefits by pointing towards relevant action-oriented initiatives. It focuses on the five areas that were addressed by the webinar series : air pollution, nature and biodiversity, food systems, water resilience, and the future of work and just transition.’ 

Communicating on climate change and health: Toolkit for health professionals

Decarbonisation of Healthcare 

Joint Supplier Targets, SMI Health Systems Task Force (2023). 

‘The SMI Health Systems Task Force has come together to set joint, minimum climate and sustainability targets for suppliers, as a first step towards addressing supplier emissions and reducing the complexity of multiple asks for suppliers’ 

Decarbonising Healthcare Supply Chains, SMI Health Systems Task Force (2022). 

This whitepaper identifies the major sources of emissions across healthcare supply chains, which account for nearly 50% of global healthcare emissions, and suggests actions to take to mitigate these emissions. 

Accelerating the Delivery of Net Zero Health Systems, SMI Health Systems Task Force (2022). 

The SMI Health Systems Talk Force is committed to collaborating across and beyond the healthcare sector to drive concrete action to reduce emissions and propose targeted recommendations. 

Health Care’s Climate Footprint How the Health Sector Contributes to the Global Climate Crisis and Opportunities For Action, Health Care Without Harm and Arup (2019). 

This marks the first in a series of papers by Health Care Without Harm and partners, including Arup, spanning three years. The series aims to define healthcare's climate impact and propose actions aligning with the Paris Agreement while concurrently advancing global health goals, covering topics like a global roadmap for healthcare decarbonization and strategies for governments to implement climate-smart healthcare policies. This report identified healthcare's climate impact and potential actions. 

Global Road Map for Health Care Decarbonization: A navigational tool for achieving zero emissions with climate resilience and health equity, Health Care Without Harm and Arup (2021) 

This marks the second instalment in a collaborative series by Health Care Without Harm and Arup, aiming to outline actions for the health sector to align with the Paris Agreement while meeting global health objectives. Building on Green Paper One, this paper presents a comprehensive guide for the sector's journey towards decarbonization, with upcoming papers expanding on this vision.. 

Care Pathway Carbon Calculator, Sustainable Healthcare Coalition 

The Care Pathway Carbon Calculator, based on Sustainable Healthcare Coalition data, offers a step-wise process to estimate carbon footprints for healthcare pathways. Designed for patients, policy makers, providers, suppliers, sustainability practitioners, and academics, it provides a rapid sustainability analysis while emphasizing its supplementary role to a comprehensive Care Pathway Assessment. 

The Carbon Impact of Biotech and Pharma, My Green Lab and ICE (2022) 

This report serves as a follow-up to My Green Lab's 2021 publication, which assessed Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions throughout the entire value chain of the industry. Providing an evaluation of progress since 2015 and alignment with the Paris Climate Agreement, the updated report utilizes data from 231 publicly listed companies and 151 privately held companies, offering a comparative analysis against other sectors within the industry. 

Employee Engagement 

Healthy People, Healthy Business: Embedding a culture of employee health and wellbeing, WBCSD (2022) 

This cross-sectoral guide, by businesses for businesses, championing top-tier programs for global employee health and wellbeing, setting new standards and delivering essential insights for a seamless cultural integration of wellness." 

Climate, Nature and Health 

Toolkit: Understanding and Enabling Health Outcomes from Nature-based Solutions, Pollination and GSK (2023). 

This toolkit aims to foster awareness of the crucial nexus between health and nature, offer science-based guidance for project design and implementation to maximize health benefits, and mobilize leaders to champion top-tier Nature-based Solutions (NbS) projects integrating health considerations. 

Guidance on Nature and Health, WHO (2022) 

This is a comprehensive collection of available WHO and United Nations guidance on improving health through nature restoration. 

Understanding the Climate/Health Nexus 

Planetary Health: Protecting Nature to Protect Ourselves, Planetary Health Alliance (2020). 

This book offers a comprehensive and accessible overview of the emerging paradigm, employing an interdisciplinary perspective to explore diverse health impacts in the Anthropocene and proposing strategies, from controlling toxic exposures to investing in clean energy, to mitigate environmental changes. 

The 2023 Global Report of the Lancet Countdown, Lancet Countdown (2023). 

‘The latest Lancet Countdown report underscores the imperative for a health-centred response in a world facing irreversible harms. It tracks the relationship between health and climate change across five key domains and 47 indicators, providing the most up-to-date assessment of the links between health and climate change.’ 

Health in the Climate Emergency: A Global Perspective, Inter-Academy Partnership (2022) 

Climate change poses immediate health threats that will escalate without prompt intervention, particularly impacting vulnerable populations through direct factors like extreme heat and indirect ones such as diminished food security. Under the InterAcademy Partnership, leading scientists globally collaborated on a three-year project to provide science-based analysis and recommendations, exploring climate mitigation and adaptation strategies with substantial potential to enhance health and equity. 

Climate Change and the Health Sector: Healing the World, ed. Alexander Thomas et al. (2021) 

This edited volume positions the health sector as a leader in addressing climate change, examining its impact on health, pandemics, food, nutrition, and air quality. Enhanced with case studies, it is a valuable resource for students, educators, researchers, healthcare professionals, and policymakers interested in climate resilience in the health sector. 

Get in touch 

Contact Ksenia Benifand @[email protected] with any suggestions, feedback or for further support using any of the materials.