Creating resilience requires a movement from reactive to proactive strategies. Rather than responding to shocks after they occur, leading firms are investing in systems that anticipate, absorb and recover from climate and health disruptions. This includes early-warning systems for extreme heat, worker-centred data collection, flexible benefits models and infrastructure co-financing with suppliers and local governments. Innovative models are emerging to support these investments. For example, climate adaptation funds and health-focused impact bonds have been piloted to distribute costs and scale solutions.79 These models are characterized by their ability to pool funds from multiple sources such as public– private partnerships or blended finance, which create more flexible and sustainable approaches to financing healthcare. Innovative models often focus on aligning the interests of different stakeholders, including governments, private companies and non- profit organizations, to achieve common health and climate goals.80 This will not be a one-size-fits-all journey. Each sector, region and company will need to follow different pathways. But the common thread is a revaluation of labour and community – not just as a cost centre, but as a strategic asset worth protection and investment. We need sustainable markets where employers take initiative for creating healthcare access. Rangarajan (Ranga) Sampath, Diagnostics Innovator and Global Health Leader The insurance industry, standing at the forefront of the evolving climate risk landscape, has recognized the need for proactive long-term solutions and risk reduction strategies covering both property and people.81 For instance, firms are already filling in gaps by offering parametric insurance and other risk-pooling mechanisms to help protect informal workers and smallholder farmers – those least covered by traditional safety nets. By underwriting climate risk through a social lens, insurers and investors can help de-risk markets and attract further capital.82,83With 70% of the global workforce exposed to extreme heat, sectors such as agriculture and construction are losing billions in productivity annually. Innovative solutions such as parametric insurance and microinsurance are critical for ensuring worker health and maintaining supply- chain stability in vulnerable regions.84 Many leading organizations have thus started to explore parametric insurance as a climate-health financing tool.854.1 Insurance as infrastructure: De-risking disruption Insurers have an interest in reducing the consequences of severe climate events because it translates to wider economic benefit. There is definitely a strong role for insurers on this, because our industry is keen to ensure that the outcome, or loss, is as low as possible. Paolo Marini, Head of Broker Relations, Integrated Benefits, Zurich Insurance Company Workforce Health Across the Value Chain: Organizational Insights to Mitigate Risk and Create Sustainable Growth 20

Workforce Health Across the Value Chain 2025