We need to work across disciplines to get the best results for people and planet

As #ClimateWeekNYC closes, I wanted to reflect on the scale and urgency of the climate and nature crises – and share my thoughts on how we can best respond.

I can’t emphasise enough how the climate and nature crises are also an urgent threat to people’s health.

Air pollution causes or exacerbates respiratory diseases; warm wet weather helps disease vectors like mosquitoes spread; and the destruction of forests increases the risk of pandemic viruses making the leap from animals to humans.

Climate change and nature loss also exacerbate health inequalities, disproportionately affecting those communities who often have fewer resources to adapt to a changing planet.

That’s why, two years ago, we set an industry-leading ambition to have a net-zero impact on climate and a net-positive impact on nature, across our full value chain.

Environmental sustainability cannot be considered in isolation of social impact, including health outcomes. We are working to break down silos, for example by bringing together our expertise in sustainability and our understanding of disease, particularly infectious and respiratory diseases. There’s no denying the difficulty of working at the nexus of evolving health and environmental science, along with business priorities. This is a big cultural shift, and it takes time.

That’s why I’m proud that this week we demonstrated how we are doing exactly that - breaking down silos and working across disciplines, with two new actions:

1.????An innovative collaboration between GSK, Microsoft and Nepal that brings cutting-edge science and technology together to help accelerate the elimination of diseases like ?lymphatic filariasis and malaria and ?help communities adapt to the health impacts of a changing environment.

2.????A new sustainable procurement programme,?a collaboration between our procurement and sustainability teams and with our suppliers, where we’re asking suppliers to align with our ambitious?climate and nature goals. Our supply chain accounts for 40% of our carbon footprint and a big part of our impact on nature, so we need to work together

I also joined climate leaders from business and government to support the Zero Emissions Vehicle Declaration, to collectively work on accelerating the transition to zero emission vehicles. The switch to electric vehicles is particularly important to us as it will also help to tackle air pollution. The photo here of the Declaration supporters is a good example of the type of cross-industry collaboration that is required, with representatives from national government, the UN and business.

This week we have also shared our top 5 lessons learned so far in delivering our goals. We do not have all the answers, but by openly and transparently sharing our experiences and learning, we hope to help us all move faster towards collective solutions.

The remainder of 2022 is set to be a critical time for nature and climate, with COP27 (the UN climate change conference) and COP15 (the UN biodiversity conference) as major moments.?At GSK we believe it is crucial that human health is at the centre of the conversations at both these moments. These are not just goals for a degree or half, or percentage of nature loss, these impact millions of people and striking words out of texts is more than just a document editing, it changes the future for all of us.

Beyond these immediate conferences, we will be playing our part in keeping momentum moving. There is an opportunity for a ‘just transition’ where social and environmental factors can be improved at the same time, and we will continue to act as an advocate for human health to be an integral part of those conversations.

?For too long, the climate, nature and health conversations have been siloed. Now is the time to break down those divides so that we can collectively move towards a net-zero, nature-positive world where everyone can lead healthy lives.