Pharmaceutical

Nature is critical to human health and well-being, providing us with air, water, food and the raw materials necessary to manufacture medicines and medicinal compounds. The pharmaceutical sector, which exists to improve human health and quality of life, also relies on nature for many of its operations and innovations, such as water for the production of biological medical products like vaccines.

However, negative impacts from many human activities are driving significant environmental changes, including increases in invasive species, changes in land and sea use, climate change, pollution and the direct exploitation of natural resources. All of these collectively contribute to nature and biodiversity loss. This loss, in turn, endangers the health of people and the planet, potentially affecting everyone and everything. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that nearly 14 million people die each year from environmental health risks, highlighting the interconnection between human health and environmental well-being.

The sector actions serve as a guide to transform business practices and value chains and ensure the pharmaceutical sector plays its part in halting and reversing nature loss by 2030 - the mission at the heart of the Global Biodiversity Framework. 

The overview and report were led by Business for Nature and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development with support from PwC UK and with input from leading academic, industry, non-governmental organizations and government experts.

 Priority actions and opportunities

 Additional Resources