How the Climate and Health Coalition is unlocking private sector action

Our journey so far and what we're trying to achieve 

The Climate & Health Coalition is mobilising and equipping the private sector to shift business practices towards positive climate and health impacts. It aims to inspire all individuals within businesses to understand the links between climate and health, and then deliver actions that drive co-benefits for people and planet.

Since 2021, the Coalition has grown to include 13 corporate partners and 17 non-profit associate partners from a range of sectors and regions. Together, we are: evidencing the links between climate change and health; developing and disseminating 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; and identifying gaps in research and understanding. Crucially, the Coalition also looks to raise awareness and understanding of both the case and guidance for action at key forums such as Climate Week and COP. 

So what impact is the Climate and Health Coalition having?

Outcome 1: Changing hearts and minds

By publishing thought leading reports and guidance—and by continuously taking opportunities to engage others—the Coalition is fostering a mindset shift among business leaders to see the connections between climate and health and then, based on a clear case for change, understand their role and take action at the intersection.

2021 saw the Coalition launch its groundbreaking guidance, Driving Co-benefits for Climate and Health, to help address the lack of business case and guidance on how businesses could leverage net zero strategies in a way that simultaneously accelerates change for both people and planet. This guidance was updated in 2022 to highlight encouraging case studies of integrated action as well as recommendations for specific sectors (food, tech and the built environment) and stakeholders (investors and policymakers) to act on. The practical evidence-based case studies are designed to inspire a different way of thinking. They equip people to take action at both individual level and at scale, while broader dissemination of our findings, reports and thought leadership enables non-business actors to understand the potential for new collaborations and partnerships. 

Mar Soro, Group Head of Sustainability Advocacy at Bupa

On why join the Coalition:

“The Coalition creates the space for conversations not held elsewhere. It gives agency to the private sector to think more boldly and to articulate a clear role for itself. It’s a space for wide-ranging organisations to come together on key areas - from employee engagement and operations to value chain challenges – and explore how our role sits alongside others in the ecosystem.

This journey of continued learning has given me confidence; it’s helped me structure my thoughts and have faith that where we are focusing is where we should be focusing.

The Coalition is genuinely unique in building the connections and strengthening the relationships key to acting on climate and health. None of us can tackle this challenge alone; we need a breadth of stakeholders sitting at the table—government, philanthropy, the private sector, civil society and others—and the Coalition convenes these groups in a way other initiatives do not.” 

On how the Coalition influences what you think and feel about sustainability challenges: 

“The Coalition has helped me personally in three ways. First, it has enabled me to appreciate and focus on the overall whole; to step back and see climate and health issues at the systems level, and to appreciate the complexities sitting at the intersection of both. More than three years into the Coalition, I’m clearer on how interventions in one space may impact another (in both positive and unintended ways), what new issues are emerging, and how we might bring nature into sharper focus.

Secondly, it has helped me appreciate the need to simplify this complexity if we’re to change hearts and minds. The climate crisis is a health crisis and we need to land why a systemic response is urgently needed. It’s crucial the right messages reach the right people at the right time and the Coalition is set to focus on this.

Thirdly, I value the unique space we have to hear a diversity of perspectives and experiences. I find it hugely refreshing to see and listen to how other organisations are approaching shared challenges. We push each other on how we might do things differently, and these new connections are incredibly powerful.

I’ve long since learned that change is the only constant, and underpinning all of this is the adaptive nature of the group. While retaining sight of our overall strategic goals, Bupa is in the business of adapting and as the Coalition’s community grows, we’ll continue to flex with it— ensuring all we do adds value to an ever-changing conversation.” 

Outcome 2: Unlocking organisational action

In addition to changing individual hearts and minds, the Coalition provides resources and information in support of organisational action, no matter a business's start point or operating context. Key to our approach is a systemic perspective on the intersection of climate and health—that health is created or eroded by multiple factors, whether through the air we breathe, the food we eat, or the buildings we live and work in. We also recognise that the private sector has an important role to play across all these determinants.

In 2023, the Coalition evolved its initial guidance to improve accessibility and facilitate its application across various functions within a business. The tailored toolkit is available online and enables leaders within healthcare businesses to engage specific teams from procurement, policy and external affairs to research, development and communications.

The Coalition is also expanding beyond the healthcare sector to work alongside the food, drink and agriculture industries. 2024 saw Carlsberg Britvic, SIG and Waitrose join the Coalition as part of a new Food Cluster, which has now published a dedicated toolkit for food retailers, producers, manufacturers, agricultural businesses and food packaging and logistics companies to take organisational action on the climate and health crisis.

Freely available to download, the toolkit is intended for senior leadership and decisionmakers. We know it can be daunting to know where to start —that's why the toolkit focuses on helping leaders understand their organisation’s start point and the business case for action. It goes on to provide practical guidance tailored to different stages —from those only just starting out on climate and health to those deeply accelerating their impact. It equips organisations to explore future goals, the challenges and enablers they may encounter, the leadership skills necessary for success and how to harness the power of partnership to transform value chains. And it grounds all of this in practical case studies.

We believe toolkits such as this allow businesses to learn from the successes and failures of others trying to take similar action. We have no time for ad hoc, duplicative trials and are focused on providing the space and resources necessary for businesses to feel both prepared to act and confident in knowing how. 

Sarah McDonald, Haleon’s VP – Sustainability

On how the Coalition has helped influence her organisation's thinking:

“Haleon has been involved with the Coalition since its launch in 2021. Over that time, it’s prompted us to look in-depth at how we can join up the decarbonisation actions we’re taking across the business to maximise co-benefits for people and planet. Working as part of the Coalition to make the case that the climate crisis is a health crisis has helped us to instill this mindset at Haleon. It’s a mindset in which we continuously ask ourselves ‘what opportunities do we have to align ideas and approaches across Haleon, how can it be done, and how can we maximise co-benefits for climate and health?’

The Coalition’s various toolkits provide unique ‘outside-in’ stimulus to sensecheck and adapt your organisation’s focus areas, practices and more. It’s a new way of thinking and decisionmaking that we’ve integrated into our aim to reduce net Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon emissions by 100% by 2030, and to reduce Scope 3 ‘source to sale’ carbon emissions by 42% by 2030.

On reducing Scope 3 emissions, we make the climate/health lens part of how we engage our suppliers—sharing how climate change is impacting health today and why taking action to reduce carbon emissions is not just good for the environment, its key to people’s health. When working with our suppliers to explore their decarbonisation plans, it’s about understanding how action in one area could impact another—especially as we reduce greenhouse gas-intensive materials and replace them with lower carbon alternatives. Together, we can troubleshoot ideas, risks and opportunities, reviewing solutions that will benefit people and planet.” 

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Outcome 3: Unlocking organisational action

The Coalition is committed to joining up action, avoiding duplication and adding value through connection. It's a community supporting wider change beyond its immediate reach and remit so that the enabling context for businesses can support transformation rather than locking in the status quo.

For example, 2024 saw the Coalition collaborate with the Clean Air Fund and iovoli Pharmaceutical Consulting on the Policy as a Route to Cleaner Air report, which calls for more integrated environmental and health policy mechanisms that prevent and reduce outdoor air polluting emissions. Recognising that air pollution is one of the biggest causes of death globally, the report highlights the need for urgent and joined-up policy actions at every level and a need to raise mandatory standards.

Elsewhere, the Coalition was invited in late 2024 to join the World Health Organization’s Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health. It’s here the Coalition represents private sector perspectives in tackling the climate and health crises in interconnected ways.

The Coalition also leverages global platforms including Climate Week NYC, COP, London Climate Action Week and the Net Zero Festival to amplify the urgent need for action. Beyond speaking, it has also influenced the shape of platforms, for example advising on the first Climate Week NYC Health Programme. Whether it’s through opinion editorials for media or by standing on stage, we aim to influence the discourse around climate and health. 

Daniella Foster, Senior Vice President & Global Head, Public Affairs, Market Access & Sustainability, Bayer Consumer Health

On how the Coalition is supporting wider change:

“Among the many reasons that Bayer joined the Climate and Health Coalition was the opportunity to work across sectors and collaborate with industry peers, companies from agriculture, finance, technology, and other sectors to address the risks that climate change poses to human health. Through its ongoing partnership with Forum for the Future, Bayer has convened round tables with numerous business partners to discuss the climate and health challenges where the private sector can most materially create connectivity and shared action by stakeholders. 

In these roundtables, participants agreed that the private sector has an ‘outsized’ potential for delivering positive impacts on climate and health through its access to capital, its brands, the innovative products and services those brands deliver, the global reach of its supply chains, and the strength of its collective education and advocacy capabilities.

One of the potential opportunities identified for insurance providers is to work with partners and develop an offer on parametric insurance. In such systems, for example, the Self Employed Workers of India, insurance payments are made to eligible self-employed workers (mostly women working at home), when condition thresholds—in this case extremely high temperatures—are reached. The payments made are intended to cover the wages lost when conditions limit a woman’s ability to work. Such products enable those who would otherwise not have insurance, have coverage, at least through the periods of highest heat and health risk." 

What's next for the Climate and Health Coalition?

The Climate & Health Coalition is expanding. We will continue to build and strengthen the case for action across the private sector, enabling more organisations to take action. In addition to current healthcare and food clusters, we will encourage activity in two additional sectors that have a strong bearing on human and planetary health outcomes: insurance and the built environment. We will continue to apply and amplify existing toolkits and guidance, while creating opportunities for collective action across the Coalition.

We will also build and strengthen our network by providing opportunities for sharing and collaboration across the private sector, public sector, academia, philanthropy and civil society.

Find out more or get in touch:

Find out more about the Climate & Health Coalition or email [email protected] to get involved.