Pharma sees climate disruption as growing supply-chain risk
pharmafile | September 11, 2026 | News story | | British Standards Institution, climate disruption, pharma, supply-chain risk
Nine in ten pharmaceutical companies across the UK and G7 countries expect climate-related disruption to their supply chains to increase in the coming years, according to new research from the British Standards Institution (BSI).
The findings suggest that net zero is increasingly being viewed by pharmaceutical businesses not simply as a sustainability objective, but as a matter of business resilience and competitiveness.
BSI’s 2026 G7 ‘temperature check’ found that 87% of pharmaceutical companies surveyed expect climate-related supply-chain disruption to increase, while 84% said maintaining momentum on net zero was important to their business.
Almost all respondents (96%) remain committed to achieving net zero in line with national targets, while 37% expect to increase investment in net zero initiatives over the next year.
The survey also found that 88% of pharmaceutical leaders were concerned about the future costs and resilience implications of failing to prepare for climate change. More than three-quarters (78%) said their net zero programmes were critical to future business resilience, while 82% believed the economic risks of failing to transition outweighed the costs of taking action.
For 71% of respondents, net zero commitments would continue regardless of political conditions because they were considered fundamentally good for business. Customer expectations were also a significant driver, cited by 83%.
As the focus shifts from commitments to implementation, BSI points to the need for more consistent ways of measuring the environmental impact of medicines across their life cycle.
Its PAS 2090 specification, published at the end of 2025, provides a methodology for life cycle assessments of pharmaceutical products, covering their environmental impact from raw material acquisition through to end of life.
The standard is intended to provide a consistent basis for environmental reporting and decision-making, helping pharmaceutical manufacturers and healthcare organisations identify opportunities to reduce the impact of medicines.
Courtney Soulsby, Healthcare Development Director at BSI, said the industry was increasingly viewing sustainability through the lens of business resilience.
“Rather than treating sustainability as a standalone objective, many now see climate action as essential to protecting future business resilience,” she said.
Soulsby added that PAS 2090 was intended to address the challenge of measuring environmental impact consistently across pharmaceuticals and support efforts to reduce it.
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