Apple and other technological companies that refurbish their old gadgets instead of disposing them into the landfill.
Another good example is Unilever with their drive on ensuring ''zero waste to landfill, which advocates for reducing the generation of waste from the process and recycling that which cannot be avoided.
Here is an example of businesses taking action in health equity and climate change.
Patagonia, Inc. is an American retailer of outdoor clothing. It operates stores in more than 10 countries globally and factories in 16 countries. The company aims to become carbon neutral by 2025. The firm uses a circular economy strategy in its product design. In 2021, Patagonia announced that it would no longer produce its clothing with added corporate logos to improve garment lifespan. Patagonia has committed 1% of its total sales to environmental groups since 1985. In 2016, Patagonia pledged to contribute 100% of sales from Black Friday to environmental organizations, totaling $10 million. In June 2018, the company announced that it would donate the $10 million it received from President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts to groups committed to protecting air, land, and water and finding solutions to the climate crisis.
A2Several businesses around the world are taking action on climate change and health equity issues. Here are some best five examples that I was able to focus in my discussion.
Tesla: it is a company involved in manufacturing of electric vehicles and the renewable energy products. The company commitment is to reduce the emission of the green gasses and helping in adopting of the renewable energy. The electric vehicles have reduced emissions compared to traditional vehicles which were powered by gasoline. Hence the solar products are designed to help consumers and other businesses reduce the carbon pollution.
CVS Health: a pharmacy and health care firm with the main objective of promoting healthy equity through providing affordable healthcare access and minimizing the gaps in the health care. The company is working on minimizing the carbon pollution effects and investing on the renewable energy. It is also committed to reduce waste through promoting.; recycling.
Interface: it is a company that is involved in global manufacturing of carpets and floor products. By 2020, interface had committed to having zero carbon and adopting the use of renewable energy sources. It has developed innovation on the sustainability initiatives such are, recycling fishing nets to manufacture carpet tiles.
Unilever: it is a global company that manufactures consumer goods. It is committed to be carbon free by 2039 and ensuring that its products are recyclable, reusable, and/or compostable by the year 2025. It promotes health equity in sanitation and hygiene areas.
Patagonia: an outdoor clothing and gear company. It advocates for a sustainable environment. It has committed to using 100%energy which can be renewed and investing regenerative agriculture. It promotes advocacy for policies that aim at climate and environmental protection.
These companies are prioritizing sustainability and taking it as a social responsibility to help in driving a positive change and create a more equitable and sustainable climate in future.
But remember that investment in climate mitigation will affect health outcomes so the real value is higher
Agree Robert. ESG benchmarks and standards are key.
Foundations such as the Wellcome Foundation and Rockerfeller Foundation are working in this area, which is fantastic. But we also need businesses to be working through their core activities and value chains on this issue.
Bayer gave an insight into the work that they and other companies are doing on climate and health in our SSIR Series the Business of Climate Justice. (https://ssir.org/the_business_of_climate_justice)
There is also huge scope for businesses to use existing digital technology to help gather data and also educate health professionals and the public on how climate is impacting health, provide access to health services online, and empower them to improve their own health. Business Fights Poverty wrote a report with Bayer on how businesses can do this in the context of COVID-19: https://businessfightspoverty.org/report/how-can-self-care-help-health-systems-rebuild-better-during-covid-19/
Food security is also a huge part of ensuring human health in the context of climate change. Companies such as Mars and Cargill are investing and training farmers in climate-smart agriculture and businesses like TechnoServe, DSM and Sanku (who have a partnership with Vodafone) are also looking at how to scale up food fortification so that staple foods are more nutritious.
Sanku: https://projecthealthychildren.org
Report on scaling food fortification: https://businessfightspoverty.org/report/food-fortification-workshop-summary/
Actually, it is key because it not only addresses the planetary health but also has an aspect of the social/ human side of the ecosystem
Katie super interesting point thinking about the impact of climate change on health of their workers and supply chains and how do they financially quantify this risk- There is a need to bring together health and economic data in this space I think at a sector level:
• Action 3 - Rethink where health happens: Society also needs to expand where health happens. It needs to happen in homes, pharmacies, grocery stores and online – where patients actually are in their daily lives.
In many low-and-middle-income countries, governments are empowering community health workers to provide health education. These are non-professionals who are trained on important and community-relevant health topics – everything from heart health to constipation – and work directly with residents. Since community health workers typically live in the community they serve, they have the unique ability to bring information where it is needed most. They can reach community residents where they live, eat, play, work, and worship.
My colleague wrote an article for the Stanford Social Innovation review that shares also other examples of how businesses can put health at the center of climate change: https://ssir.org/articles/entry/putting_health_at_the_center_of_climate_change
Sorry I answered this in the last one so I am just going to repeat myself with some extra points:
Businesses that are actively combatting climate change include: Renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, green building, electric vehicle, sustainable fashion, and sustainable food companies.
However, it it the health sector that is facing the newest changes, and therefore require the most support in adapting. There are much less specified businesses, however, an example of a healthcare company that acknowledges the relationship between climate change and health equity includes Johnson & Johnson and their launch of the “Climate and Health” programme. The objective is to train health professionals on the matter, and how they can incorporate this knowledge into their work to better their work. This includes online training modules and resources for employers all over the country and abroad to access. The modules cover topics such as air pollution, extreme weather events, infectious diseases, and food and water scarcity. These resources are designed to help health professionals understand the connections between climate change and health, and to equip them with the tools they need to take action to address these issues.
Great points Flora- Think a need to separate out what health systems can do to mitigate climate change and what help they need to adapt to the consequences of climate change on health
Unfortunately, all of the major brands and what they do as “businesses taking action on health equity and climate change issues” are little known in developing countries, where the need for health equity and climate change is greatest. For me, the best examples are international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) doing small things like not using plastic water bottles during training or conferences, and using eco or biodegradable items as part of project feasibility, etc. As part of the government agenda, countries’ participation in COPs, SDGs, Nexus, NDCs, and other initiatives help to raise awareness of leadership in developing countries and enforce minor changes, at the very least.
I think companies need to incorporate material climate risks to worker health in their TCFD
That is a really important point as it applies on a national level too. The gap between the rich and poor, widened enough by COVID, is going to keep widening within both developed and developing countries if we do not address climate change and health equity as one and the same.
***And this is our third question:
Q3. How can we work together for a more positive impact on health equity and climate change?
sub questions:
a) What is the business case data (financial or other) required to help make the case for businesses to invest in or manage health effects on workers or people in value chains - and at what level?
b) Where do we really need to collaborate - what should this look like? ****
Work at global, regional, national, subnational and community levels - Health inequity operates at different levels - for example Africa is thought to have contributed only 3% of global carbon emissions, but is suffering above average temperature and sea-level rises, with knock-on impacts for food production, extreme weather events, communicable diseases and cardiovascular disease to name a few. Those countries who have contributed most to the problem need to be doing more to support countries who are on the receiving end. We also know that within countries, there is inequity in health coverage with those living in poor and rural areas less likely to have access to healthcare - so action to ensure universal coverage is key. And there’s also a gender dimension - women and children are most likely to be impacted. So we need to work at a number of levels to tackle the problem.
One of the most important steps we can take is educating ourselves and others about health equity and climate change. Increasing awareness and understanding of these issues can create a sense of urgency and inspire action.
Collective action is critical to have a more positive impact on health equity and climate change. No one entity can solve the climate or health crises on their own. We’re working with our industry association, the Global Self-Care Federation to activate a Charter for Environmentally Sustainable Self-care, where we’re working across industry lines to solve some of the problems that we all have, such as plastics in packaging and improving the carbon footprints of our supply chains.
Another way we can all work together is by reframing the climate crisis. At the end of the day, we need to figure out how do we save human-kind? And that’s not just thinking about climate change in a vacuum. If we do, we’re going to miss the opportunity to impact people’s lives TODAY.
I’d like to see more a holistic, integrated approach to climate change. When companies, governments and other organizations put together ESG strategies, they need to start thinking about the E and the S as inter-connected. This type of this holistic thinking is truly how we can make both a long- and short-term impact on our world.
