Nine out of ten (87%) pharmaceutical companies across the UK and G7 countries expect climate-related disruption to their supply chains to increase in the years ahead, according to BSI’s 2026 G7 ‘temperature check’.

The research found that pharmaceutical businesses are increasingly viewing net zero as a business resilience and competitiveness issue, with 84% saying maintaining momentum on net zero is important to their business.

The healthcare sector represents 5% of GHG emissions globally and the new report confirms that steps are being taken to reduce this with over a third (37%) planning to increase investment in net zero initiatives over the next year.

Nearly nine in ten respondents (88%) are concerned about the future costs and resilience implications of failing to prepare for climate change, while more than three-quarters (78%) say their net zero programmes are critical to future business resilience. 82% believe the economic risks of failing to transition outweigh the costs of taking action.

BSI says that a key enabler for understanding and reducing the environmental impact of medicines is the PAS 2090 standard, which is already being used across the healthcare ecosystem to support more consistent environmental reporting and decision-making. Published by the BSI at the end of 2025, PAS 2090 aims to provide a consistent and globally applicable methodology for carrying out life cycle assessments, with the aim of facilitating environmentally optimised pharmaceuticals from drug substance to end of life and accelerating progress towards net zero.

Courtney Soulsby, healthcare development director, BSI, said: “We know from our research that there is a significant shift in how pharmaceutical companies view the transition to net zero. Rather than treating sustainability as a standalone objective, many now see climate action as essential to protecting future business resilience.

“By providing a harmonised standard for environmental product lifecycle assessments, PAS 2090 addresses a longstanding challenge for healthcare systems and manufacturers, providing a consistent method for measuring and ultimately reducing environmental impacts across pharmaceuticals. The industry wide use of the standard shows commitment towards accelerating progress towards a more sustainable healthcare sector.”

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