This article was originally published by Mercer 

The climate crisis is a public health emergency unfolding in real time. Extreme heat, worsening air quality, shifting disease patterns and natural disasters are already overwhelming healthcare systems and impacting healthcare spending.

At the 2025 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, global business and health leaders convened at Mercer and Oliver Wyman’s Health Breakfast to discuss the immediate and long-term actions required to mitigate climate-driven health risks. The consensus? A shift from reaction to prevention, investment in localized solutions and stronger collaboration between industries.

From crisis response to prevention

Speakers emphasized that as climate-driven health risks increase, prevention and resilience must become the priority. Dr. Oliver Eitelwein, presenting research from Oliver Wyman’s new report on resilient solutions, highlighted that almost half of climate-driven health impacts could be mitigated through early interventions like preventative care, advanced diagnostics and localized health system investments.

Dr. Rangarajan Sampath of Siemens Healthineers underscored the role of early diagnostics in health security. He noted that faster access to testing can reduce the spread and severity of climate-related diseases. Investments in point-of-care diagnostics and regional manufacturing of test kits are helping to ensure accurate diagnosis limits contagions and allows for treatment before conditions worsen.

The role of employers: Workforce resilience 

Employers have a role and a stake in addressing climate-driven health risks—not just for their own employees, but for supply chain workers and local communities.

Cities across the US are already experiencing significant economic losses due to extreme weather events, with 70.8% surveyed citing reduced workforce productivity due to climate-related health issues. For instance extreme heat is projected to cause $2.4 trillion in productivity loss annually by 2030, affecting industries from construction to agriculture. Hervé Balzano, President of Health & Benefits at Mercer and Mercer Marsh Benefits, noted that US employees are already citing climate as a hardship, with 67% reporting issues related to health or finances due to climate-related events.

Despite the growing risks, health-specific climate action remains vastly underfunded—only 6% of adaptation finance is allocated to health initiatives, leaving critical gaps in preparedness and response. The panel discussed new funding mechanisms such as parametric insurance, which provides immediate payouts based on climate-related triggers assuring quick access to needed capital. Innovations like these can help businesses support workers and ensure supply chain continuity in climate-vulnerable sectors.

Collaboration, not competition: The role of cross-sector partnerships

A key theme emerging from Davos 2025 was that silos must be broken down if we are to address climate-driven health consequences. As Balzano summarized during the panel discussion, “You can’t go it alone.”

Rather, the scale and complexity of climate-driven health risks demand collaboration across industries. Healthcare systems, insurers, employers and policymakers are encouraged to work together to develop scalable, sustainable solutions.

Daniella Foster of Bayer reinforced this point with one example of successful cross-sector collaboration, the Better Life Farming Alliance, which supports smallholder farmers by providing healthcare access, financial tools and agricultural resources to mitigate climate risks. This initiative demonstrates that addressing climate resilience in one sector (agriculture) can have direct and measurable benefits for public health.

Turning insights into action: What business leaders can do now

Participants agreed that leaders can no longer afford to view climate-driven health risks as someone else’s problem—this is an issue that affects supply chains, workforce productivity and long-term economic stability. They suggested that businesses take these steps to mitigate risks:

1. Invest in prevention. Shift from reactive health spending to proactive resilience measures.
2. Integrate climate resilience into workforce strategies. Incorporate health-focused climate risk management into HR, operations and supply chain planning.
3. Leverage insurance and financing innovations. Explore parametric insurance and climate risk funding mechanisms to support employees and at-risk communities.
4. Support community-based health solutions. Strengthen public-private partnerships to expand access to healthcare and emergency response systems in high-risk areas.
5. Treat climate-driven health risks as a core business issue. Just as cybersecurity or supply chain disruption is treated as an operational priority, climate-driven health risks should be built into corporate risk management frameworks.

The discussion at Davos made one thing clear: climate-driven health risks are not a pending threat — it is an immediate public health and economic crisis. The businesses that invest in solutions now will be the ones best positioned to thrive in an increasingly uncertain future.