Future-Proofing Health Care

A synthesis report by FP Analytics with support from Bupa

Climate change poses a significant threat to human health, impacting health care systems worldwide. Rising temperatures, worsening air quality, and the spread of vector- and water-borne diseases are driving up rates of both non-communicable and infectious illnesses worldwide. These escalating health threats place immense pressure on already-strained health care systems. Extreme weather events further compound these challenges by damaging health care facilities, causing power outages, and blocking access to care. In the face of these risks amid worsening climate change, technological innovation can improve health care access and outcomes and help reduce the health sector’s carbon footprint, which in recent years has represented between 4.4 and 5.2 percent of total emissions. 

In partnership with Bupa, Foreign Policy convened stakeholders from government, multilateral institutions, the private sector, and civil society to explore how the health sector can leverage emerging technologies to support preventative health interventions, reduce the environmental impact of the health care delivery, and improve climate resilience and adaptation of health systems worldwide. This Chatham House Rule discussion took place on the sidelines of the 78th World Health Assembly, where a Global Action Plan on Climate Change and Health was adopted. The following analysis distills insights from participants, without attribution, along three key themes that emerged during the discussion, including: 1) driving sustainability in health care through technology and innovation; 2) supporting people’s health outcomes while decarbonizing health infrastructure for a net-zero future; and 3) financing and partnerships for lasting health and environmental impacts.

Technology is poised to reshape health care delivery and reduce the sector’s environmental footprint

Shifting toward preventative, personalized, and digital-first models was seen as a strategy to build adaptation and resilience, without compromising health outcomes. Participants noted that health technology innovations, including artificial intelligence (AI) applications, could reduce emissions and improve care by streamlining patient journeys, which are often fragmented. Specifically, AI applications in genomics were identified as a powerful tool to enhance diagnostics and preventative care, while applications in pharmacogenomics were identified as a means to develop personalized interventions.  However, participants cited ethical and environmental concerns around deploying these technologies. Given significant health disparities within and among countries, the uneven deployment of innovation also risks deepening inequities. Addressing both the structural barriers in low-resource settings and the environmental trade-offs associated with the deployment of AI is essential for deploying digital health tools at scale.

Key Takeaways

• Emerging AI tools come with significant environmental trade-offs. Training a single large language model can emit up to 300,000 kilograms of CO₂, and projections suggest that AI-related water consumption could exceed half of the UK’s annual usage by 2027. However, digital and AI-powered tools can offer carbon savings long-term. One participant noted that, while whole genome tests produced up to 420 kilograms of CO₂, the early detection of cancer facilitated by these tests can offset thousands of kilograms in emissions, underlining the value of long-term outcome tracking.
• Treating data as a public good can unlock more equitable health innovation and outcomes. Siloed and proprietary health data were cited as a significant barrier to innovation. To ensure that benefits are broadly shared, participants called for interoperable, anonymized, and open data approaches that support ethical development and allow communities to adapt tools to local needs. Localized AI development, in particular, was seen as a way to strengthen efficacy.
• Safeguarding privacy is key to the ethical deployment of AI for health. Without transparency and privacy, AI cannot be deployed ethically in health care. Participants stressed that patient trust can be compromised without clear disclosure of what data is collected, how it is used, and who accesses it. Protecting sensitive health information through anonymization, informed consent, and regulatory compliance is essential to uphold patient rights. Maintaining the integrity of the patient-doctor relationship was identified as a priority, ensuring that AI supports, rather than undermines, confidentiality.
• Innovation needs to respond to real-world demand for health care. Technologies are most likely to succeed when designed around local disease burdens and national health priorities. Shifting from supply-driven innovation to demand-responsive models grounded in the needs of ministries of health and patient communities is essential to ensuring that tools are effective and sustainable.
• Low-resource settings require equity-by-design solutions to health care. Across LMICs—and even within high-income countries—access to improved care enabled by technologies remains uneven. Tailoring innovations in care delivery and medical technology to local realities is critical, especially where health infrastructure is limited, and access constrained. Participants emphasized the importance of surfacing and scaling innovations developed in low-income settings through targeted policy and investment frameworks.

Unlocking gains from innovation will require reimagining health infrastructure and supply chains for future disasters and a net-zero future

Health systems are under increasing strain as extreme weather events damage infrastructure, interrupt supply chains, and threaten service continuity. As one participant observed, “Climate change is a real threat to health care systems across the world, but especially in LMICs where systems often lack the resources to adapt. At the same time, the health care sector contributes significantly to the very crisis it is grappling with. If counted as a country, the global health sector would rank as the fifth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Roughly 70 percent of its emissions come from complex supply chains, including pharmaceuticals, equipment, and food services. Despite the health sector’s significant climate impact, little attention has been paid to developing effective alternatives. Current health care models rely on high energy use and emissions-intensive infrastructure, placing them under growing pressure. Responding to these pressures will require structural changes that would mitigate environmental impact while adapting existing and future infrastructure for resiliency.

Key Takeaways

• Closing digital access gaps will determine who benefits from health care innovation. LMICs contribute minimally to global emissions yet face disproportionate climate-related health risks. As noted by one participant, there is “tons of innovation, but they’re not reaching low-income settings  to the extent they could.” Participants noted that unreliable power, poor connectivity, and limited data infrastructure continue to block the deployment of digital tools that could expand access to care. In many LMICs, unreliable electricity remains a critical barrier to care, with nearly one billion people relying on health facilities without consistent power. During the round table, solarization emerged as a practical and scalable solution that offers reliable energy access without the volatility of fossil fuel supply chains. Cross-sector collaborations led by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Lebanon were highlighted as examples of how solar energy can sustainably power essential health services while advancing climate goals.
• Health infrastructure needs to be strengthened to meet both climate resilience and mitigation challenges.  Participants emphasized the dual imperative of adapting existing infrastructure to withstand climate impacts and ensuring that new investments are compatible with a net-zero future. With over 90 percent of global disasters being weather-related, the need for resilient, low-carbon infrastructure is increasingly urgent as climate change intensifies the frequency and severity of extreme weather events. The Smart Health Facilities initiative–a collaboration among the United Nations Development Programme, the Global Fund, and Gavi–was presented as an example of how climate-resilient design can reduce emissions while strengthening operational continuity. Facilities participating in the initiative achieved substantial reductions in water and fossil fuel use and have remained functional during extreme weather events.
• Emissions tracking will be central to sustainable health care reform. Reducing the sector’s environmental footprint requires better data and targeted action. Initiatives such as the Sustainable Health Care Coalition’s cradle-to-grave approach offer promising frameworks for standardizing data collection and supporting evidence-based improvements across the sector. By mapping care pathways, researchers identify emissions hot spots, including those within the supply chain. This approach enables targeted innovations that help reduce the sector’s environmental footprint.

Sustainable health systems require partnerships and financing

A lack of funding and cross-sector cooperation hinder advancement toward net-zero targets and climate sustainability. Efforts to address known climate-related health challenges remain fragmented, which limits the scale and impact of promising solutions. One participant commented, “There’s a gap between climate and health . . . but also between the public and private sectors, patient communities and even the research community.” Until recently, climate change’s impacts on health have been largely sidelined in international climate diplomacy.  COP28’s inaugural Health Day marked a turning point, bringing attention to the intersection of planetary and population health. However, progress has stalled due to limited funding. COP29’s financing commitments from high-income countries fall far short of the $1.3 trillion that developing countries called for. At current financing levels,  only 0.5 percent of multilateral climate finance is directed toward health-related projects. This misalignment not only limits innovation but perpetuates existing health inequities in regions already facing the worst climate impacts. Aligning incentives and building bridges across sectors is key to unlocking financing and innovations.

Key Takeaways

• Inclusive, cross-sector partnerships are essential to scaling solutions. Participants emphasized the need to co-design, fund, and implement innovations with a broad coalition of stakeholders, including policymakers, patient communities, insurance providers, private-sector actors, researchers, and clinicians. Health insurers, in particular, can play a key role in shaping incentives that encourage provider uptake and patient engagement with low-carbon, preventative care. Closing the gaps among these groups is critical to building trust, aligning priorities, and directing funding toward climate-focused health initiatives.
• Platforms to exchange and adapt best practices can accelerate progress. Knowledge-sharing through platforms such as the WHO Digital Innovation Investment Platform was highlighted as a pathway to connect actors across the innovation ecosystem. These platforms can align local needs with global innovation pipelines and ensure that successful models are adapted and scaled in resource-limited settings.
• Blended finance and catalytic capital can unlock investment. Traditional investment models often fail to support early-stage or high-risk innovations, especially in low-income, low-information settings. Blended finance strategies, which leverage philanthropic capital as a de-risking layer, catalyze proof-of-concept efforts and attract additional funding. This shift repositions philanthropy not just as a donor source, but as a knowledge broker and driver of scalable impact. Philanthropic actors are uniquely positioned to fill critical climate and health knowledge gaps that can inform innovative financing models and unlock further investment.
• Aligned incentives across sectors can drive systemic transformation. Structuring investment with shared goals, rather than isolated returns, can accelerate the transition to net-zero, equitable health systems. Initiatives such as the Sustainable Markets Initiative demonstrate how coordinated incentives across the public and private sectors can channel funding toward sustainable health care solutions.

Looking Ahead

Deploying innovations in health technology will be essential to improving health outcomes, reducing emissions, and building sustainable, climate-resilient health systems. These tools can transform care delivery, increase efficiency, and support prevention in ways that benefit both people and the planet. However, innovation needs to be implemented with a clear health-first approach. New technologies should strengthen care quality, improve access, and reduce health inequities, rather than prioritizing sustainability globally at the expense of patient outcomes. Progress will require strong national leadership, coordinated action across sectors, and targeted investment. It will also depend on inclusive research, better data, and a deeper understanding of the socioeconomic impacts of climate-related health risks to inform the business case for integrated solutions. The health sector can drive meaningful progress toward a more equitable and sustainable future with the right policies, partnerships, and innovation models.

By Miranda Wilson (Senior Policy Analyst and Project Coordinator). Photographs by Andriy Ryndych.

This synthesis report from FP Analytics, the independent research division of The FP Group, was produced with support from Bupa. FP Analytics retained control of the direction and findings of the synthesis report. Foreign Policy’s editorial team was not involved in the creation of this content.