Bermuda and similar island nations remain particularly vulnerable to the human cost and financial burden of the interconnected relationship between climate change and human health, a KPMG Climate Week round table has highlighted.

Officials estimate a global impact of $1.1 trillion in direct health system costs tied to climate impacts.

This climate and health nexus has been recognised as a significant global threat to human wellbeing.

A statement released today from KPMG recognised the views addressed by participants in New York City during their satellite event held during the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly and Climate Week NYC 2025, nearly a month ago.

The message from the group was that increasing instances of heat-related illnesses, extreme weather events, infrastructure vulnerabilities and the rising burden on health systems underscore the urgent need for integrated solutions to help mitigate the impact.

The group included international healthcare leaders and key stakeholders from over 12 countries and third-sector organisations, including the World Economic Forum, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the African Medical and Research Foundation.

“Climate and Health: Moving from Challenges to Transformation” was co-hosted by senior KPMG executives concerned with healthcare and climate, including Ed Fitzgerald, head of healthcare for KPMG Islands Group and co-lead for healthcare in emerging markets for KPMG International.

The group highlighted challenges that demand innovation: “Participants shared on-the-ground realities of climate health impacts, such as hurricanes leaving hospitals in the Bahamas flooded and paper-based patient records destroyed, and the resurgence of certain disease in Ethiopia, which experienced the highest number of malaria-related deaths in seven years in 2024.

“Beyond the infrastructure challenges, access to financing remains a key barrier, with government resources stretched thin and access to existing climate finance or innovative financing mechanisms remaining limited in healthcare.”

Dr Fitzgerald stated: “Building resilient healthcare facilities and climate-proof health systems will cost more upfront but could deliver exponential savings in the future. The difficulty is not just financing projects, but ensuring systems integrate resilience across all aspects of healthcare.

“This includes not just infrastructure, but also care delivery, workforce and supply chains — all accompanied by community engagement to ensure inclusive planning, education on the risks and mitigations and empowering communities to address their social determinants of health so that they are best prepared to meet these challenges together.”

KPMG and KPMG Islands Group are preparing a white paper summarising strategies and action items from the session, to be shared with participants and beyond ahead of the next planned meeting at COP30.