It is crucial that companies and the (re)insurance market incorporate climate change into business considerations as investors, ratings agencies and financial regulators apply pressure on firms. Climate change will also impact health and life sciences stakeholders via more frequent and severe disruptions, according to Kavitha Hariharan, Director of Health Societies, Marsh McLennan Advantage and Rachel Zeldin, Principle of Health Sciences at Oliver Wyman.
The health and life sciences sector is part of the problem — if the sector were a country, it would be the fifth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases on earth, mainly due to production, transport and disposal of products and services across the health supply chain. The sector is also a crucial part of the solution, with both an obligation and an opportunity to mediate the health impacts of climate change and minimize harms and inequities for patients, staff and societies.