Nearly nine in ten (87%) pharmaceutical companies across the G7 expect climate-related disruption to their medicines supply chains to increase in the years ahead, according to new research from the British Standards Institution (BSI).
The findings, from BSI’s 2026 G7 ‘temperature check’, indicate that climate change is increasingly being viewed as a business resilience issue by pharmaceutical companies, alongside its environmental impact.
Almost all pharmaceutical leaders surveyed (96%) remain committed to achieving net zero in line with national targets, while 78% say their net zero programmes are critical to future business resilience.
The survey also found that 82% believe the economic risks of failing to transition to net zero outweigh the costs of taking action.
More than a third (37%) of pharmaceutical businesses expect to increase investment in net zero initiatives over the next year.
“We know from our research that there is a significant shift in how pharmaceutical companies view the transition to net zero,” said Courtney Soulsby, Healthcare Development Director at BSI.
Rather than treating sustainability as a standalone objective, many now see climate action as essential to protecting future business resilience.
Climate resilience and supply chains
The findings highlight concerns around the potential impact of climate change on pharmaceutical supply chains, with 88% of respondents expressing concern about the future costs and resilience implications of failing to prepare for climate change.
Seven in ten (71%) said they will continue pursuing net zero regardless of political conditions because they believe it is fundamentally good for business.
Customer expectations were identified as a driver by 83% of respondents, while 82% cited a broader commitment to a sustainable future.
BSI said the findings demonstrate that climate action is becoming increasingly embedded in business strategy, driven by concerns around future costs, operational resilience and long-term competitiveness.
Measuring environmental impact
As pharmaceutical companies move towards implementation of their net zero commitments, BSI said measuring environmental impact across the medicines lifecycle will become increasingly important.
This includes assessing impacts from raw material acquisition or generation from natural resources through to final disposal.
PAS 2090, published by BSI at the end of 2025, provides a methodology for carrying out life cycle assessments of pharmaceutical products.
The standard is intended to provide a consistent approach to measuring environmental impacts across the medicines lifecycle and support decision-making aimed at reducing those impacts.
The research was conducted by Censuswide in February 2026 and surveyed 7,068 business leaders across the UK, US, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan.
Pharmaceutical industry respondents accounted for 11% of the total sample.
