Johnson & Johnson will once again serve as the Health Program Partner for Climate Week NYC. We connected with Paulette Frank, J&J’s Chief Sustainability Officer, to hear more about the company’s support for climate resilient health systems and the work they are doing to advance environmental stewardship across their business.
Welcome back to Climate Week NYC. Why is this year’s Climate Week an important one for Johnson & Johnson?
This is Johnson & Johnson’s 8th consecutive year sponsoring Climate Week NYC, which means we’ve been a sponsor for half of the 16 years that Climate Week has existed. Each of those years we’ve provided voice to a topic at the intersection of climate and human health.
Our participation in Climate Week has run in parallel with our support for multiple initiatives to build climate resilient health systems. Climate Week has become an important moment to share updates on this work, to seek ideas that help advance our progress, and to look for new opportunities for collaboration. It was on stage at Climate Week several years ago that we announced the first 10 pilot clinics for The Climate Health Equity for Community Clinics Program, an initiative J&J supports with Americares and Harvard Chan C-CHANGE. Since then, nearly 80 free and charitable clinics and community health centers across the U.S have created customized plans to support patients’ health before, during and after climate related events – and we recently supported a new climate toolkit for the Philippines. We’re excited to share more during our session on September 22nd at The Hub Live.
What do you look forward to most each year at Climate Week NYC?
For me, a highlight of Climate Week NYC is putting a spotlight on solutions that are making a tangible impact in communities around the world - and sharing the stage with leaders who are making it happen. This year we’re hosting an event focused on the essential role that health workers play in safeguarding public health before, during and after climate-related natural disasters.
I’ll be joined by Dr. Cecilia Sorensen, who leads the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education at Columbia University, an organization that provides tools and trainings for health workers around the world, including in communities in rural India. Dr. Julie Varughese, Senior Vice President of Programs and Chief Medical Officer at Americares will highlight a recently launched mental health support initiative focused on health workers. And Rachel Sossoman, CEO of Mercy Urgent Care in North Carolina, will talk about the work that she had her team did to support patients in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which made landfall one year ago.
This year’s theme for Climate Week is “Power On.” You’ve spent most of your career working in the environmental sustainability space. What inspires you to “power on” in your work?
I’m proud to work for a company with a long history of environmental stewardship. In fact, J&J set our first public-facing environmental goals more than three decades ago. One thing I love about my job is seeing programs that we’ve committed to and invested in for years continue to grow in both scale and impact.
For example, in our MedTech business we’ve been working to close the loop on medical waste by partnering with hospitals to recycle components from single-use medical devices. The program started in 2019 in New Zealand, and today it’s active in 14 countries. We recently expanded the scope of the program to include the collection of suture aluminum foil packaging in some countries. In our Innovative Medicine business, we’ve just marked the 25th anniversary of our green chemistry program. A quarter of a century ago green chemistry was an emerging field that was embraced by a team of J&J scientists. Today, we continue to develop environmentally preferred chemical processes that reduce waste, minimize the use of hazardous substances and improve efficiencies in pharmaceutical manufacturing.
What advice would you give others who are working in the sustainability space?
My advice for anyone working in sustainability is to be “boldly” pragmatic, build your community and to stay optimistic. Focus on the opportunities you can concretely affect, take the first step and commit to taking the next. Sometimes staying the course and making incremental progress on a long-term strategy can be your boldest course of action. Build your community along the way – they can help make your incremental progress even bigger and sustain your personal resilience. I’m fortunate to be able to look back on decades of progress against numerous sets of sustainability goals, commitments and programs. There have been ups and downs, but the overall trajectory has been – and remains - upward and onward!