Embracing Planetary Health: The Future of Pharmacy in a Sustainable World

The pharmacy profession sits at a critical junction between human health and planetary health. The medicines we manufacture, prescribe, and dispense are essential to health outcomes worldwide. At the same time, the pharmaceutical lifecycle, from production through distribution, use, and disposal, is a substantial and growing contributor to the environmental degradation now recognized as one of the greatest threats to global health. These impacts are not evenly shared. Healthcare and pharmaceutical emissions are concentrated in high-income countries, while the health consequences of climate change, and the barriers to accessing safe, effective medicines, fall hardest on lower-resource and climate-vulnerable populations — those who contributed the least to causing them. Addressing planetary health in pharmacy means treating human health, environmental sustainability, medicines access, and health equity as one interconnected system, inseparable from the natural world it depends on.

​​

Key statistics:

• Healthcare's climate footprint: Health systems generate an estimated 4.4% of global net greenhouse gas emissions — if the sector were a country, it would rank among the world's top emitters. These emissions are concentrated in wealthier nations that consume more healthcare resources per capita. (Health Care Without Harm / COP29)

​​

• Medicines as the largest single category: In systems that measure it, pharmaceuticals are often the biggest emissions source in healthcare. In the UK's NHS, for example, medicines account for roughly one-quarter of total carbon emissions, more than any other single category. (The Pharmaceutical Journal)

​​

• Pharmaceutical pollution and global inequity: A 2022 global study of 258 rivers across 104 countries found pharmaceutical contaminants at potentially harmful concentrations in more than a quarter of monitored sites — causing harm to ecosystems and driving antimicrobial resistance. The highest contamination levels were found in lower- and middle-income countries, many of which remain the least studied and least resourced to respond. (PNAS)

​​

These statistics sit alongside a broader access gap: an estimated 2 billion people globally lack access to essential medicines. Climate-related disruptions are making this worse — extreme heat degrades temperature-sensitive drugs, and extreme weather damages concentrated manufacturing sites or cuts off access to pharmacies — threatening the reliability of medicines supply chains everywhere, from disaster-prone regions to well-resourced health systems. (OHCHR) These disruptions to medicines use are just one part of the broader impact of global environmental change on human health and health systems. As frontline health professionals in many settings, pharmacists are often among the first to see the effects on their practice, their patients, and their communities.

​

The pharmacy profession is uniquely positioned to act across this whole system — from drug design to patient care to policy. That means strengthening public health systems; reducing unnecessary consumption and waste through deprescribing and medicines optimization; steering formulary, prescribing, and supply-chain decisions toward lower-carbon, more resilient products and suppliers; safeguarding medicines quality and continuity of access in climate-vulnerable settings; counseling patients on safe disposal; advancing green chemistry and more sustainable manufacturing practices; and advocating for policies that pursue sustainability, climate resilience, and health equity together.

​

Many great individuals, organizations, and initiatives around the world and across the pharmaceutical sector are already tackling these issues. Rx for Climate aims to connect and strengthen a global network of pharmacy professionals and organizations working to advance planetary health and promote environmentally sustainable, climate-resilient systems. If you're new to this topic, explore some highlights of current policies, initiatives, and case studies below.