Company insight Sustainability: T
here are many reasons to be positive about sustainability and the future of pharmaceutical companies with hard targets set and real progress being made. With regards to energy, around two-thirds of the companies in our company’s report have hard targets that focus on reducing reliance on fossil fuels and are instead increasing their use of renewables. Alongside this are the closely related targets of focusing on air emissions, taking into account both carbon emissions and other gaseous pollutants frequently produced by pharmaceutical companies.
Some of the top performing companies in this area have ambitious targets of using 100% sustainable electricity by 2025. Companies are actively looking for new and efficient methods for water conservation with targets to cut water usage by 2030 – although these targets vary widely between firms. Approaches to waste reduction focus on avoiding landfill or pursuing a zero waste approach, with the most ambitious targets looking to achieve zero waste by 2030.
Room for improvement However, and in other areas, sustainable development is at a less advanced stage, with a lack of clear targets. Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) is a pressing issue where very limited progress has been made to date. Few companies in our report had set hard targets in this challenging area, where impact will become increasingly more difficult as microbes become increasingly resistant to treatments.
Recognising this, the UK government set out a plan in 2019 to contain and control AMR by 2040. Targets focus on:
14 ■
Where do we stand?
With governments and corporations alike setting targets to be carbon neutral by 2050, it is imperative that the pharmaceutical industry – a heavy polluter historically – looks to reduce its burden on the environment. Michael Earl, director of pharmaceutical services at Owen Mumford, shares findings from the company’s review of the biggest companies in the industry reporting ESG scores, their approach to sustainability, as well as sharing its own progress towards a greener future.
Reducing need for and unintentional exposure to antimicrobials; ■
Investing in innovation, supply and access to tackle AMR.
Optimising use of antimicrobials, and; ■
There is an opportunity here for the pharmaceutical industry to work with government, academia and other key stakeholders to create a framework of action for meeting these targets within the time scales identified.
Packaging is yet another area where progress is limited. While 76% of companies in our review have goals to adopt sustainable packing, only 13% have actually set any hard targets at all. Despite this, one leading company has declared that it aims to achieve 100% sustainable packaging as soon as 2025, which shows that it is completely feasible for progress to be made quickly across the industry. There are various sustainable packaging solutions that are currently being perfected such as PE (polyethylene) and PET (Polyethylene terephthalate), which is made from sugar cane, as well as PLA (polylactic acid) that is made from corn starch. Production of PLA is said to use 65% less energy and emit 63% fewer greenhouse gases than petroleum-based alternatives – a significant reduction that will go some way to achieving a more sustainable industry in the long-term.
Progress so far
As a supplier to pharmaceutical companies, it is critical for Owen Mumford to reduce its environmental burden to remain a viable supplier, as firms look to reduce their Scope 3 carbon emissions.
An important part of this process was submitting ourselves to external oversight. Last year, we achieved B Corp certification following a rigorous sustainability assessment and we have aligned with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to commit to net zero by 2045 and to also ensure that we have halved our emissions by 2030. Through energy reduction initiatives, we have reduced our Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by over a quarter (27.3%). Additionally, our UK sites are now powered by 99%+ renewables, including by ensuring that we have installed on-site solar panels that provides some of the power we use. After reviewing our third-party storage providers, we reduced from three partners to one which has led to us reducing logistics mileage by 24,000 miles. This not only reduces the logistics and environmental burden, creating a less complex logistical chain, but it also provides shorter lead times to customers – another example of how sustainable practices are not only environmentally friendly, but also make business sense.
Future proofing
For Owen Mumford, future innovations will centre around the development of our new site in Witney, Oxfordshire in the UK, which is being developed in accordance with BREEAM guidelines, recognising the highest levels of environmental, social and economic sustainability performance. We plan that this new centre of excellence will play an important role in our aim of growing responsibly and sustainably. ●
www.owenmumford.com World Pharmaceutical Frontiers /
www.worldpharmaceuticals.net
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53
