Climate and Health Coalition

The Challenge

Climate change poses a real and urgent threat to our society and economy, with potentially devastating acute and chronic impacts on human health.

Severe floods, heat stress or drought can have immediate and severe impacts on health. Gradual rises in temperature can have longer term impacts, exacerbating both non-communicable and infectious diseases. Climate change also impacts mental health, whether as a result of the trauma of living through severe weather disasters, or more widely, suffering so-called ‘eco-anxiety’.

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 kills and debilitates millions each year, while forest destruction damages water supplies and increases the risk of infectious diseases.

The climate crisis is also a health crisis and requires systemic, interlinked action by the private sector, governments and civil society. Human health relies on fresh water, healthy food, clean air and a stable climate.

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.

Our solution: the Climate and Health Coalition

To overcome this barrier, Forum for the Future and leading healthcare businesses Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Bupa, Haleon, Reckitt and Walgreens Boots Alliance have joined forces in the Climate and Health Coalition 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.

Founded in early 2022, 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 Climate Week and COP.

Who’s involved

Latest updates and resources from the Climate and Health Coalition:

Connecting Health and Nutrition to Regenerative Agriculture

This new report from Forum and Waitrose through the Climate and Health Coalition, lays out the potential for a narrative that highlights the health benefits, as well as the environmental benefits of regenerative agriculture as a route to activating consumer and citizen support for regenerative agriculture in the UK.

Heat Resilience: An Opportunity for Cross-Sector Action in the United States

This new white paper from Forum and Trane Technologies, through the Climate and Health Coalition, lays out a shared agenda for collective action to protect people, communities, and economies from rising heat.

Enabling Climate and Health Resilience: A Blueprint for Urgent Business Action

This new report, produced by the Climate and Health Coalition, provides businesses with a roadmap to integrate climate action and health equity into their core strategies, unlocking long-term value while improving public health outcomes and strengthening community resilience.

Climate and Health Toolkit for Food Businesses

Climate and Health Coalition's new toolkit for food businesses contains practical information, resources and key activities to guide and support your business in driving solutions.

Climate and Health Coalition's Food Cluster

With leading Climate & Health Food Cluster partners Britvic, SIG and Waitrose, the Coalition is working to enable private sector players from across the food and drink industry to accelerate the transformation of our food and agricultural systems towards outcomes that deliver positive health and climate outcomes for both people and planet.

Policy as a Route to Cleaner Air: Why a Systemic, Cross-Sector Approach Matters, 2024

This report – commissioned by the Clean Air Fund and produced by Forum for the Future in partnership with iovoli pharmaceutical consulting - calls for more integrated environmental and health policy mechanisms that prevent and reduce outdoor air polluting emissions.

Climate & Health Toolkit for Businesses, 2023

This toolkit represents an evolution from the Climate and Health Coalition's last two guidance documents, with the specific goal of improving accessibility and facilitating the implementation of prior guidance across various functional areas within the healthcare sector. It is intended for healthcare businesses, encompassing procurement teams, policy and external affairs teams, research and development professionals, and communications teams.

Driving Co-Benefits for Climate and Health - How the private sector can accelerate progress, 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.

Driving Co-Benefits for Climate and Health, 2021

Published in September 2021 by Forum for the Future, Bupa, Haleon and Walgreens Boots Alliance the report Driving co-benefits for climate and health called on business to urgently and simultaneously act on the twin crises of climate change and public health. It aims to address a lack of guidance for businesses on how to leverage their net zero strategies in a way that simultaneously accelerates change across these interlinked challenges.

Get in touch

To learn more and explore how your organisation can drive co-benefits for climate and health, please contact Ksenia Benifand [email protected].

“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 lense, 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” - Dr Sally Uren, Executive Director and Chief Acceleration Officer, Forum for the Future

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