Reflections following New York Climate Week

Following #ClimateWeekNYC, I’ve had time to reflect on my time there and I am sharing my key takeaways:

1.?????? Action on nature cannot wait, and we have the tools we need to get started

It can’t have escaped anyone following #ClimateWeek that nature was more prominent than ever before, to such an extent that I heard some people discussing whether it should be renamed #NatureWeek! But I think it’s important we don’t see these as two competing issues, but recognise that they are indivisible - as an IPCC report explained, we must solve climate change and nature loss together or solve neither.

While climate issues are better understood with widely accepted approaches for action, those for nature are forming and evolving quickly. I was delighted to see the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) publish its final recommendations. This is a major step forward in helping companies understand and act on their nature impacts, which is why we are committed to making our first TNFD-aligned disclosures.

It can feel overwhelming to get started on nature when many are still grappling with how to respond to climate change. But action on nature cannot wait and we cannot delay action waiting for perfect data and solutions. The most important thing is to get started and I would encourage companies to use the frameworks that are already out there, like TNFD and Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) . Last week we published an update on our plan for nature which is interdependent with our pathway to net-zero.

2.?????? Health impacts should be considered as part of resilience and adaptation

In the lead up to the very first ‘Health Day’ at COP28, it was encouraging to see world leaders discuss the critical intersection between climate and health.

As a biopharma company, we have a dual role to play in reducing our environmental impact, as well as helping to build more climate resilient health systems. We shared more about the next phase of our longstanding partnership with Save the Children International which is focused on ‘zero dose’ children, meaning those children who have never received a vaccine, the majority of whom are in Africa. The combined impacts of climate change, poverty, instability and the pandemic have triggered the biggest global decline in routine immunisation for 30 years, causing diseases like polio, measles and cholera to appear in places where they haven’t been seen for decades.

Partnerships like this are a key part of building resilience to the health impacts of climate change. As we move in to #COP28, its key that health is considered as an essential part of the broader adaptation and resilience agenda.

3.?????? We have an opportunity to break down silos between climate, nature and health

Although it was encouraging to see so much focus on the links between climate and health, the nature conversation seemed to remain quite separate. ?

Human health relies on the fundamentals of nature: clean air and fresh water. Nature loss has a range of negative impacts on health, for example, reduced air quality increases the incidence and severity of respiratory diseases and habitat degradation and deforestation are increasing the risk of new human pathogens and pandemics.

To protect human health and get ahead of disease, we need to take action on nature as well as climate. That’s why we’ve worked together with leading experts to develop practical guidance to help ensure that human health is a central outcome of global efforts to protect and restore nature.

Since returning from New York, I have spent the week with the extended team of people working on sustainability at GSK. This has involved visiting three of our sites and working with colleagues from across R&D, procurement, manufacturing, corporate affairs and market access, to understand more about how they are embedding sustainability into their everyday roles.

Although the conversations at Climate Week can seem very far away, the most important thing I can do is to take what I have heard, and to work with teams across the company to make it tangible and real. That’s how we will deliver on our ambitious targets.