Restoring the Balance Between Climate and Health
By Gareth Presch CEO & Founder, World Health Innovation Summit (WHIS) & Global Social Prescribing Alliance (GSPA)
The climate crisis is not looming. It is here. And it is already shaping the future of human health.
Across the world, rising temperatures, polluted air, contaminated water, and unsustainable waste systems are driving respiratory disease, cardiovascular conditions, malnutrition, displacement, and growing mental health challenges. The link between climate and health is no longer theoretical—it is visible in our hospitals, our communities, and our economies.
At WHIS, we believe the response must be bold, systemic, and prevention-led.
That is why we are launching WHISGreen: Energy, Waste and Water – Restoring the Balance to the Environment.
The Climate–Health Nexus
Health systems were built to treat illness. They were not designed to withstand environmental collapse.
Yet healthcare itself contributes nearly 5% of global carbon emissions. At the same time, climate-related health impacts are costing economies hundreds of billions annually in healthcare expenditure, lost productivity, infrastructure damage, and emergency response.
This is not just an environmental issue. It is a fiscal, social, and moral challenge.
The nexus between climate and health sits at the intersection of three critical domains:
1. Energy
Energy systems shape air quality, fuel poverty, and the resilience of healthcare infrastructure.
Fossil fuel dependency drives non-communicable diseases and premature mortality. Meanwhile, inefficient hospital estates increase operational costs and emissions.
Transitioning to renewable energy is not simply a sustainability target—it is a public health intervention.
Clean energy means cleaner lungs, stronger systems, and reduced inequality.
2. Waste
Healthcare waste, plastics, pharmaceutical residues, and inefficient procurement systems are contaminating ecosystems and accelerating antimicrobial resistance.
Waste is often treated as an operational afterthought. It should instead be recognised as a design flaw.
A circular economy approach—reduce, reuse, redesign—offers enormous opportunity:
- Lower system costs
- Reduced environmental harm
- Innovation in sustainable materials
- New green industries and employment Waste is not inevitable. It is preventable.
3. Water
Water is health security.
Flooding spreads infectious disease. Drought drives malnutrition and migration. Industrial contamination undermines entire communities.
Investment in clean, resilient water systems delivers exponential returns: fewer hospital admissions, stronger economies, and improved population wellbeing.
Water policy is health policy.
The Cost of Inaction
The economic burden of climate-related health impacts is escalating rapidly:
- Rising emergency admissions
- Increased chronic disease prevalence
- Insurance instability
- Infrastructure damage
- Workforce productivity loss If we fail to act, health systems will absorb unsustainable costs—financially and socially.
But there is another path.
The Opportunity Ahead
The transition to sustainable energy, circular waste systems, and water resilience represents one of the greatest investment opportunities of our generation.
By embedding prevention into environmental policy, we can:
- Reduce healthcare expenditure long term
- Attract green investment
- Create jobs in sustainable industries
- Position cities as climate-health innovation hubs
- Empower communities to participate in environmental restoration - Green and Blue Social Prescribing (Global Social Prescribing Alliance)
- Strengthen national economic resilience Prevention is not a cost. It is an economic multiplier.
Every investment in climate-health resilience reduces future expenditure and builds long-term prosperity.
WHISGreen: A Systems Approach
WHISGreen calls for coordinated action across health, environment, finance, education, and industry.
Our priorities include:
- Decarbonising healthcare systems
- Embedding circular procurement models
- Scaling renewable energy infrastructure
- Strengthening water resilience
- Aligning climate finance with measurable health outcomes
- Ensuring that sustainability strategies reduce health inequalities This is not about incremental change.
It is about restoring balance—between people, planet, and prosperity.
A Prevention-Led Future
At WHIS, our global mission is clear: empower people to manage their own health and wellbeing while strengthening communities and economies.
WHISGreen extends that mission to the planet itself.
Because without environmental health, there is no human health.
And without prevention, there is no sustainable future.
The question is not whether we can afford to act.
It is whether we can afford not to.
Gareth Presch CEO & Founder, World Health Innovation Summit CEO, Global Social Prescribing Alliance
Policy Paper: WHISGreen – restoring the balance between climate, health, and economic resilience.