Sustainability

Why sustainability is so important to us

Our commitment to sustainability starts with our purpose: "Helping people live longer, healthier, happier lives and making a better world".

As a global healthcare company, we’ve been looking after people’s health for 75 years. It's becoming clearer that to look after people's health, we also need to look after the health of our planet.

Our approach to sustainability is focused on the intersection of human health and the health of the planet.

Building a healthier future for people and planet

Delivering healthcare has an environmental impact. As a healthcare company we must take action to reduce that impact – starting with reducing our own impact on the environment.

This means reducing our own emissions in line with science, but also the emissions of our suppliers and partners. We’re also transforming our products and services to be more sustainable.

We’re championing innovation using our health expertise, and mobilising partners to build a greater understanding of how people's health is impacted by the health of the planet.

You can find out more about our approach on our sustainability strategy page.

View sustainability strategy >

100%

Renewable energy used in directly controlled sites in Australia, Spain and New Zealand.

90%

Over 90% renewable energy used in the UK.

70%

Over 70% renewable energy used in Chile.

Sustainability initiatives

These are some of our recent global sustainability initiatives, followed by some from our regions.

Global initiatives

Regional initatives

Asia Pacific
Europe and Latin America
Bupa Global and UK

The Bupa Health Foundation in Australia has extended its support to Kids Helpline, enabling over 50,000 school children to access youth mental support.
The Bupa Health Foundation has built new partnerships with UNICEF Australia, Conservation Volunteers Australia and Project Crimson in New Zealand to build healthy and resilient communities.
In Hong Kong, we engage our people and customers through our Bupa4Life app with wellbeing challenges, community volunteering and our partnership with The Green Earth.

In Spain, we launched the Carbon Footprint feature in our Mi Sanitas app, which informs customers about “net emissions avoided” when digital services are chosen.
As part of the Healthy Cities project, we have planted a total of 50 hectares of forest across Poland – that’s over 375,000 trees.
The Sanitas Foundation organised the first ever inclusive Games in 2021, where Spanish Olympic and Paralympic athletes competed together.

In 2021, 100% of our waste was diverted from landfill, and 100% of food waste from our care homes and the Cromwell Hospital was recycled into green energy.
We signed up to the Association of British Insurers’ climate change roadmap and the Independent Healthcare Providers Network climate pledge to reach net zero for direct emissions by 2025.
We joined the healthcare community at COP26 signing the #HealthyClimate prescription letter, calling on governments and policy makers to act on the current climate and health crisis.