For Bupa, protecting human health means protecting the health of our planet. With over 75 years’ experience, 50,000 clinicians, and 60 million customers worldwide, the organization understands the profound connections between our environments and our health.
Healthcare systems globally face two converging challenges: climate change and growing demand for services. That’s why Bupa is shifting towards prevention – keeping people well for longer. This approach reduces pressure on health systems, delivers better outcomes for individuals and lowers emissions.
This year, Bupa refreshed its sustainability strategy in line with its purpose to ‘help people live longer, healthier, happier lives, and make a better world’. The updated action plan focuses on three priorities: expanding access to health care by leveraging innovation and digital healthcare; creating healthier, more resilient cities where people can thrive; and restoring nature for healthier communities. These ambitions are underpinned by Bupa’s continued commitment to achieve net-zero by 2040, as a participant in the Race to Zero campaign, led by the UN Climate Change High Level Champions.
Tackling climate and health challenges requires meaningful cross-sector collaboration. Bupa is building partnerships across and beyond healthcare, including with industry leaders such as Health Care Without Harm and the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) Health Systems Taskforce; to wider city ecosystem actors such as the Resilient Cities Network, the Norman Foster Foundation; and academics including Yale School of Public Health, the University of Navarra, the Catholic University of Chile, University of Manchester, and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
These collaborations aim to contribute to shared knowledge and innovation, helping build climate-resilient health systems.
Since joining the Health Care Climate Challenge in 2015, Bupa has been recognized for its contributions across multiple areas of climate action - from mitigation in energy and renewable energy adoption, to organizational leadership and efforts to build resilience through adaptation. These acknowledgments reflect the organization’s efforts to reduce emissions within its operations and support broader transformation across the sector.
Bupa’s approach centers on prevention, resilience, and collaboration — working to keep people well while strengthening the systems and environments that support health.