The first study to measure the industry’s total emissions has found that the top 25 biopharma companies have reduced their carbon impact. The report — prepared by the non-profit organization My Green Lab, which promotes sustainability in science — was released to coincide with the United Nations COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai. The study identified critical hotspots that could open up opportunities for positive change. The evaluation, which included data from 226 public and 147 private companies, showed that the top 25 organizations by revenue have reduced some of their annual emissions — those from owned sources and purchased energy for in-house use — by around by 5.3% a year since 2015. And more than half of companies are now certified by My Green Lab, a best-practice standard that covers themes related to energy, water, waste, chemicals, materials, and engagement.
Yet emissions from purchased goods and services used in supply chains, which account for over 80% of biotech and pharma emissions, are rising. In response to this quandary, several companies are now working together to set standards for their energy suppliers. For example, companies including AstraZeneca, GSK, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Roche, Samsung Biologics, and Sanofi have joined forces with the Sustainable Healthcare Coalition, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization to form the Health Systems Task Force of the Sustainable Markets Initiative. One of the goals of this new public–private partnership, announced at COP28, is to ensure that power used in manufacturing supply chains in India and China is from renewable sources. Nevertheless, the My Green Lab report notes that such efforts must be dramatically scaled up and accelerated.
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