Unlocking innovation across life sciences and technology3 A strategic investment of $65 billion could achieve a 49% reduction in the health and economic impacts of climate change. Life sciences innovators have a pivotal role to play in the effort to mitigate the impact of climate change through targeted, long-term investments in R&D across vaccines, medicines, medical devices and healthcare technology. Research conducted for this report has identified 36 unmet medical needs in eight climate-aggravated medical conditions across prevention, diagnostics and treatment that could be addressed by life sciences innovation. To achieve the 49% reduction in projected health and economic impacts of climate change, detailed above in Chapter 2, a strategic investment of $65 billion in innovative solutions over the next five to eight years is required (see Appendix for detailed methodology). This investment amounts to less than 5% of what is currently spent annually by pharmaceutical,58 medical devices and healthtech companies on R&D and demonstrates that substantial impact can be achieved even with more targeted investment. Although leading companies are already investing in climate-resilient health, these companies may not expect profits60 from these efforts but rather are responding to multilateral calls to reach global targets for NTDs, such as those in WHO’s Neglected Tropical Disease Roadmap (2021-2030) and the Kigali Declaration, initiated in 2022. While these efforts are important, significantly greater scale is needed to boost R&D in climate-driven health conditions. Life sciences innovators have also made progress in making their supply chains and operations more climate resilient, particularly after problems encountered during the COVID pandemic and efforts to address avian flu. This includes supplier diversification and adapting distribution channels to the physical impacts of climate change. Some companies are making product investments that improve distribution resilience. This includes novel means of storage and transportation (e.g. using a plasma separation card to ship blood samples in a range of environmental conditions)61 as well as improving the characteristics of the medicines themselves (e.g. investigating the thermostability of insulin for settings without stable cooling).623.1 Pivotal role of life sciences innovators in climate and health solutions Healthcare in a Changing Climate: Investing in Resilient Solutions 21

Healthcare in a Changing Climate 2025