New Coalition formed to mobilise private sector on climate and health

Bupa, Forum for the Future, Haleon, Reckitt and Walgreens Boots Alliance join forces in new Climate and Health Coalition

Coalition launched to mobilise and equip the private sector to accelerate the integrated transformation of our health and climate systems, towards outcomes that deliver benefits for both people and planet

London, 28 July 2022 – International sustainability non-profit Forum for the Future and leading healthcare businesses Bupa, Haleon, Reckitt and Walgreens Boots Alliance have joined forces to mobilise and equip the private sector to accelerate the integrated transformation of health and climate systems, delivering benefits for both people and planet.

The new Climate and Health Coalition was founded in early 2022 on the premise that the climate crisis is also a health crisis and requires systemic, interlinked action by the private sector, governments and civil society. And yet, those two issues are often treated separately, uncovering a lack of guidance for business on how to leverage their net zero strategies in a way that simultaneously accelerates change across these interlinked challenges.

In order to address this gap, the Coalition is:

developing more detailed guidance for private sector action to deliver integrated climate and health strategies;
creating recommendations for government, investors and philanthropy to support private sector action;
fostering alignment and connection between existing private sector initiatives;
identifying gaps in research and understanding; and
demonstrating and evidencing the links between climate change and health; and
raising awareness and understanding of this at key forums such as COP27.

Its work builds on the “Driving Co-benefits for Climate and Health: How private sector action can accelerate progress” report published at Climate Week NYC 2021, which provides businesses with initial guidance for tackling the climate and health crises simultaneously with integrated net zero strategies.

Dr Sally Uren, Chief Executive, Forum for the Future, said: “Put simply, it’s impossible to have healthy people on a sick planet. There are significant benefits for the private sector to accelerate progress on climate and health by taking a systems lens, and developing strategies that can deliver benefits for both people and planet. We need to act now to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change and adapt to the evolving public health challenges that are already being felt across the globe. The Climate and Health Coalition will be an important catalyst for accelerated private sector action.”

Preliminary findings from the research undertaken by the Coalition confirm that the private sector needs clearer sector-specific guidance to accelerate progress and take meaningful action on the intersection of climate and health. Advocating for changes, such as integrating new health metrics into green financing, an effective regulatory environment for sustainable research and development, and utilizing integrated data for decision making will be key to overcoming business barriers to action and unlocking the full potential of the private sector.

Through July 2022, the Coalition hosted sector-specific roundtables to further develop guidance for private sector action for the technology, food, healthcare and infrastructure sectors. The guidance will be tested with key stakeholders at an event during Climate Week NYC in September 2022 and then published alongside COP27 in November. Interested parties who would like to contribute to the guidance can contact Ksenia Benifand at [email protected] to explore participation.

-ENDS-

For more information, interviews or comment, contact Ulrike Stein, Senior Communications and Marketing Manager at Forum for the Future, [email protected].

NOTES TO EDITORS

The impacts of climate change on health can be both direct and indirect. Severe floods, heat stress or drought can have immediate and devastating impacts on health as well as causing severe disruption to the delivery of essential healthcare services. Gradual rises in temperature can have longer term impacts, exacerbating both non-communicable and infectious diseases. [1]

Climate change also impacts mental health [2], whether as a result of the trauma of living through severe weather disasters, or more widely suffering from newly-described conditions such as 'eco-anxiety'. Meanwhile, many of the drivers of climate change are also health issues in their own right. Air pollution from fossil-fuel power plants, transport and industry debilitates millions each year, while reduced biodiversity, including forest destruction, damages water supplies, increases the risk of infectious disease transmission and compromises future medicine supplies and research. [3]

The World Health Organization (WHO) anticipates climate-related deaths due to factors such as malnutrition, malaria and heat stress will impact an additional 250,000 per year by 2030. [4] Around 90% of the world's population breathe polluted air [5]; in 2020, 1 in 4 people lacked access to safely managed drinking water [6]; and 3.1 billion did not have access to enough safe and nutritious food [7] - both of which risk being exacerbated by food and water insecurity linked to climate change.

References:

[1] Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2021, Climate Effects on Health https://www.cdc.gov/climateandhealth/effects/default.htm

[2] Leonard. J, 2021, ‘How does climate change effect human health?’, Medical News Today https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/climate-change-and-health#mental-health

[3] National Center for Biodiversity Information, 2017, ‘Biodiversity, drug discovery, and the future of global health: Introducing the biodiversity to biomedicine consortium, a call to action’, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5735771/

[4] WHO, 2016, ‘An estimated 12.6 million deaths each year are attributable to unhealthy environments’ https://www.who.int/news/item/15-03-2016-an-estimated-12-6-million-deaths-each-year-are-attributable-to-unhealthy-environments

[5] WHO, Air pollution https://www.who.int/airpollution/en/

[6] UNICEF and WHO, 2021, Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2020 - Five years into the SDGs, https://washdata.org/sites/default/files/2021-07/jmp-2021-wash-households.pdf

[7] Action Against Hunger, World Hunger Facts, https://www.actionagainsthunger.org.uk/why-hunger/world-hunger-facts

About Forum for the Future

Forum for the Future is a leading international sustainability non-profit with offices in London, New York, Singapore and Mumbai. We leverage our expertise in systems change and futures to accelerate change on global challenges, and to cultivate the capacity of organisations and individuals to create long-term and transformative change. For over 25 years, we’ve been working in partnership with business, governments and civil society to accelerate transformation toward a just and regenerative future. Find out more at www.forumforthefuture.org

About the Climate and Health Coalition

The Climate and Health Coalition is a multi-stakeholder initiative with a mission to mobilise and equip the private sector to play a key role in accelerating the integrated transformation of our health and climate systems, towards outcomes that deliver benefits for both people and planet. It is facilitated by Forum for the Future and was co-founded by Bupa, Haleon, Reckitt and Walgreens Boots Alliance. Find out more.

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