Building Economic Resilience to the Health Impacts of Climate Change 2025

Economic impacts: climate-health risks present both opportunities and risks for business Economic opportunities –Changing demand and consumer needs: Businesses that innovate rapidly to meet increased demand for health-protective goods and services – for example, climate resilient buildings, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered climate monitoring systems or healthier foods – can gain a competitive advantage, creating value while improving health outcomes for customers and communities. Economic risks –Workforce availability and productivity loss: More frequent extreme heat or disease outbreaks can have significant productivity impacts due to increased staff absences and presenteeism. Across economies, talent pools may shrink as those with chronic conditions exit the labour force. –Supply chain disruption: Businesses reliant on complex global supply chains are more exposed to risks from ill health. An epidemic affecting the productivity of upstream suppliers can delay shipments or cause shortages of raw materials or components. Such disruptions increase costs, reduce efficiency and lessen capacity to meet customer demand. –Strain on physical and financial capital: Increased health risks translate into higher costs of doing business and place more demand on corporate assets – for example, through rising insurance premiums, greater medical liabilities and escalating pressure on physical facilities that support healthcare. Interventions: to capture opportunities and mitigate risks, businesses can take steps to adapt and build resilience Climate-health risks will impact all economic sectors. Adaptation and resilience strategies can protect the health of a business’s workforce and consumers, supporting both operational continuity and future growth. These efforts should complement, but not replace, ongoing decarbonization and climate mitigation initiatives, which are beyond the scope of this report. There are three distinct types of intervention: –Employee protection initiatives: Investing in worker protection mitigates the risk of worker illness and lowers the direct cost of lost worker productivity. –Improving climate resilience of systems: Improving operational processes and efficiency helps businesses prevent and respond to climate-driven health disruptions, supporting business continuity. –Products, services and community engagement: These provide health-protective products and services that meet communities’ changing needs while enabling businesses to capture economic opportunities. 1.3 Enabling environment While private-sector leadership is essential, the most successful climate-health strategies require complementary action across business, government and civil society. Specifically, three systemic enablers can help unlock and scale the multisector strategies outlined above: 1 A strong policy and regulatory framework for climate-health action Governments can play a pivotal role in cultivating climate-health resilience. Clear policy signals and responsive occupational safety standards, such as labour protections for extreme heat, can guide private-sector investment. Consistent enforcement, coupled with incentives for compliance, can embed adaptation to climate-health risks as a standard business practice.2 A deeper, more interoperable climate- health data landscape Robust, shared data systems are critical to understanding and managing climate-health risks. Public and private actors can co-invest in research and data-sharing infrastructure – from disease early-warning networks to real-time heat monitoring. Advances in AI can enhance these systems by facilitating faster detection of emerging threats at lower costs. 3 Innovative financing mechanisms to fund climate-health resilience Collaborative financing models can spread the economic risks of adaptation and accelerate investment. Public-private partnerships, bringing together insurers, banks, governments, philanthropic institutions and businesses, can harness tools like co-funding, tax incentives, grants and resilience bonds to drive investment. Climate-health risks will impact all economic sectors. Adaptation and resilience strategies can protect the health of a business’s workforce and consumers. Building Economic Resilience to the Health Impacts of Climate Change 9