Partnering for change
Collaborating and innovating in our industry and beyond
We actively engage in various partnerships, using our industry expertise to help drive systemic, sustainable change in healthcare.
Our partnerships
We work closely with others, collaborating and advocating for change through coalitions, forums, and associations.
Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI)
We joined the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) Health Systems Task Force in 2023, a public-private partnership of global health leaders taking joint, scalable action to accelerate the delivery of net zero health systems – to improve individual, societal and planetary health.
We continue to work with them on initiatives including supply chain decarbonisation, patient care pathways decarbonisation, and consumer health and wellbeing.
Through the SMI, we also supported the launch of the European Network for Climate and Health Education. This network, chaired by the University of Glasgow and supported by the World Health Organization, is working with 25 leading universities to equip over 10,000 medical students with the skills to address the health impacts of climate change.
Norman Foster Foundation
With cities housing over half the global population, urban action is key to supporting people’s health in changing climate.
That's why we are working as health partner for the Norman Foster Institute for Sustainable Cities programme, delivering health-related course content, lectures, and workshops. This initiative, now in its second year, aims to equip the next generation of future city leaders, architects, planners, and engineers with the skills to create greener, healthier, and climate-resilient cities.
Health Care Without Harm
In 2024 we announced a new phase in our partnership with global NGO, Health Care Without Harm, as part of its efforts to work with others in shaping the delivery of healthcare to benefit people and planet health.
By partnering with Health Care Without Harm, we aim to scale local, on-the-ground action that will tackle emissions and reduce the environmental impact of healthcare, including a focus on single-use items, patient travel, hospital emissions and anaesthetic gases.
Sustainable Markets Initiative andResilient Cities
Bupa is partnering with the Sustainable Markets Initiative Health Systems Task Force and cities around the world to understand the value of preventative healthcare solutions. Helping people live healthier reduces the burden on health care systems and in turn, their emissions.
The Norman Foster Institute andHealthy Cities
Bupa, as the exclusive health partner of The Norman Foster Institute Programme on Sustainable Cities and, brings a clinical voice to the curriculum, helping to educate on the health impacts of climate change on urban populations and highlighting interventions that can mitigate health issues.
Watch Norman Foster in ‘Healthy Cities – the key to healthier societies’ discussing what urban health really means and how together, we can create spaces where people are able to thrive.
Investing ininnovation
Bupa’s eco-Disruptive Challenge showcases how bright ideas, disruption and collaboration really can deliver game changing solutions.
Our global talent and innovation programme eco-Disruptive has been running annually since 2021, enabling hundreds of our people from across the globe to work together to deepen understanding on challenge areas and to collaborate with people outside of Bupa.
eco-Disruptive is focused on finding innovative solutions to the sustainability challenges facing people and the planet by bringing together the energy and agility of start-ups with the experience and capabilities of Bupa.
The 2024 theme was centered on solutions to help create healthier societies, considering three key areas:
- Inclusive health
- Supporting disability
- Illness prevention
In 2024, 124 of our employees submitted entries to the programme and a combined 1,079 start-ups were engaged, taking our total of engaged start-ups to over 4,000 since we began the programme. The 2024 winner, MoodMon, uses AI to analyse behavioural markers such as speech, activity and sleep data to assess a patient’s mental state and then notifies physicians or caregivers of any signs of deterioration.
Resilient Cities – The Case for Action
The Case for Action report highlights the power of prevention to support health in a changing climate and reveals how practical, city-led interventions can ease pressure on health systems while delivering major health and climate benefits.
