Building Economic Resilience to the Health Impacts of Climate Change 2025

Next steps: a call to action Climate change is a present and growing risk to both human health and the continuity of all businesses. From extreme heat affecting the safety of workers to climate-driven supply chain disruption, no sector is immune. Investing early in health resilience can save lives and significantly reduce economic losses. For business leaders, three strategic actions can guide an effective climate-health resilience strategy. 1. Understand the health risks most relevant to the workforce, customers and communities. –Assess climate-health exposure across operations and supply chains: Conduct a risk assessment to pinpoint how climate hazards could directly affect employee well- being, customer safety and community health. –Prioritize the most severe and likely health threats: Focus on risks that have the highest potential impact on health and business continuity in the specific sector and region. –Use data and early-warning systems to anticipate health impacts: Harness climate data (for example, heatwave forecasts, disease surveillance) and health information to identify vulnerable hotspots. Data-driven insights can help pinpoint which locations or groups need urgent protective measures. 2. Prioritize, plan and carry out interventions to safeguard health and build resilience. –Prioritize high-impact, “no-regret” actions that protect the highest number of people and assets: Not all interventions are equal – companies should focus on those that can reach the largest portion of their workforce or customer base and significantly reduce risk. –Weigh costs against benefits and timing: Assess each action’s required investment, feasibility and time-to-value, aiming for a balance between quick wins and longer- term investments. –Take advantage of co-benefits and synergies: Companies should look for interventions that deliver co-benefits in areas like climate mitigation, sustainability or social impact. –Tailor solutions to the specific business context and embed them into strategy: Design measures that fit the organization’s size and industry, and embed these into core business strategy. A small enterprise might start with simple steps (for example, flexible work hours during heatwaves), whereas a multinational can enforce higher standards across its supply chain. –Avoid maladaptation that creates new vulnerabilities: Interventions should be evaluated for unintended consequences. For example, relying solely on air conditioning to cope with heat can increase emissions or strain power grids, ultimately exacerbating climate risks. 3. Collaborate to amplify impact and cultivate systemic change. –No single company can address climate- health challenges alone: Companies can work with public agencies, non- governmental organizations, philanthropists and their peers to pool resources and learnings to avoid duplication of effort and magnify impact. –Critically, companies should also collaborate across sectors: Opportunities are plentiful – for example, agribusinesses can partner with insurers to develop climate-specific coverage for crop losses, and healthcare providers can support built environment companies with health-based designs. A call to immediate action The business case for building resilience to climate- health risks is clear: proactive adaptation is far more cost-effective than spontaneous response to escalating disruptions, and it builds long-term stability and competitive edge. The case for action has been laid out – in the data, the interventions and the examples of innovators already making headway. What remains is for executive leaders across all sectors to translate this knowledge into bold commitments and concrete initiatives. This is a call to action for every chief executive officer, board member and investor: embed climate-health resilience into core business strategy today. The business case for building resilience to climate-health risks is clear: proactive adaptation is far more cost-effective than spontaneous response to escalating disruptions. Building Economic Resilience to the Health Impacts of Climate Change 40