Every day we see the impact of climate change, from extreme flooding to droughts to hurricanes. Ignoring the environmental impact of a business is no longer an option—sustainability must be at the core of a company’s business strategy.
What many do not know is that the healthcare industry produces 13 percent more emissions than the automotive industry so progress in sustainability will depend largely on the actions of the biopharma industry. The complexity of biopharma ecosystems makes progress challenging, but by working together and asking the right questions, those in the biopharma industry can be part of creating more sustainable products and solutions.
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Where do you start?
The biopharma industry must work toward minimizing the environmental impact of developing and manufacturing therapeutics at every step of a product’s life cycle to achieve global sustainability goals.
And incorporating sustainability into the product life cycle is an area where the biopharma industry has room to grow. According to Cytiva’s Global Biopharma Sustainability Review, a survey of 800 pharma and biopharma leaders across 18 countries, only 39 percent feel they’re effectively incorporating sustainability throughout the product life cycle, despite the global need to meet these targets.
This underscores the complex landscape of biopharma. Companies must navigate evolving regulatory policies, intricate supply chains, protracted commercialization processes, and the inherently conservative nature of the industry while striving to prioritize sustainability.
One way to promote sustainability at every stage is to take an approach known as “eco-design”, which requires innovation at every development milestone.
Companies must think about the raw materials used, the energy required to manufacture, and how they will ship the final product to its destination. Laboratories looking to purchase hardware, equipment, and consumables can ask about the sustainability programs of their potential vendors and what products are developed using the eco-design approach.
How do you track sustainability metrics?
Tracking sustainability progress presents a common challenge, with many biopharma companies (68 percent of survey participants) facing barriers due to a lack of relevant data. Without robust physical data and clear metrics, setting impactful, enterprise-wide goals becomes tough. When evaluating eco-design effectiveness, it's easy to find specific positive examples. However, it's rare to see comprehensive metrics showing companies' overall progress toward sustainable products across the entire life cycle of the product.
Ignoring the environmental impact of a business is no longer an option—sustainability must be at the core of a company’s business strategy.
Transparency of data across an organization’s scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions can help highlight key areas where we can reduce emissions, such as purchased goods and services, distribution, and customer use phase. To go deeper, working on product-level transparency to include product carbon footprints and life cycle assessments will help suppliers and end users know where the “hot spots” are so that collaboration can take place in eco-design, validation of new products, and incorporating life cycle thinking into buying decisions.
Meeting a customer’s expectations for quality and performance can be done while reducing environmental impact. It takes collaboration and careful tracking of metrics across the value chain.
What about Scope 3 emissions?
More than 70 percent of the emissions produced by the life sciences and healthcare sectors originate from supply chains, yet less than half of the respondents of the Global Biopharma Review feel confident they are improving supply chain sustainability.
It's essential for biopharma companies to recognize that scope 3 emissions encompass not only those from value chain stakeholders but also everything that happens after the product reaches the patient, including its disposal.
To identify areas along the value chain that contribute to scope 3 emissions, consider the complete picture. Life cycle assessments (LCAs), which evaluate a product’s environmental impact, from raw material extraction through to disposal/end of life, are vital to evaluating Scope 3 emissions and eco-design targets.
One way to reduce scope 3 emissions is to consider how the products purchased and shipped to customers are transported. Is shifting from air to ocean transportation a possibility? Can some temperature-controlled shipments be consolidated? These simple changes can have a significant impact on reducing scope 3 emissions for any organization.
Getting eco-design right and reducing emissions and environmental impact requires innovation, collaboration with suppliers and customers, and a commitment to continuous improvement.
Change is hard, but it can be done
Change can be challenging, especially in biopharma. Innovation often requires re-validation, additional documentation, and the integration of new processes and technologies with existing supply chains and workflows. The key questions to advance sustainability programs include:
- are companies ready to step out of their comfort zones to design products that are more sustainable, and
- are biopharma companies ready to adopt new products that require the significant work outlined above?
Collaboration between manufacturers and suppliers is critical to meeting sustainability targets and creating the innovative products needed for shared goals. Seventy-one percent of the survey respondents said their suppliers are not driving sustainability initiatives forward. Additionally, 69 percent identified weak collaboration across the supply chain as a barrier to meeting sustainability goals.
Our research also indicates biopharma companies are increasingly embedding sustainability into their collaborations. Notably, the leading companies in our study are setting shared sustainability goals, combining talent and skills, and working closely with suppliers to innovate exceptional solutions far beyond what later adopters are achieving.
Questions lab managers can ask when selecting vendors/suppliers are:
- What is your company’s EcoVadis rating (or other third-party ESG rating)?
- Has your company committed to setting Science Based Targets?
- What are some of the key initiatives we can collaborate on to reduce our Scope 3 value chain emissions?
- How are you incorporating eco-design into your products?
Although it requires additional vetting and due diligence, it’s imperative to search for collaborators, vendors, and suppliers who are setting ambitious targets and working aggressively across the value chain to meet them. By working with organizations committed to sustainability, it makes it easier to create innovative solutions.
Going beyond design—new technology is needed
Design is important, but technology often drives significant innovation. This raises a critical question: is sustainability featured on pharma companies’ technology roadmaps? The answer is “yes” for many. Our research shows numerous pharma companies find enabling technologies like automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and data analytics to be important for achieving their sustainability goals.
For product sustainability, combining eco-design with technology is essential.
For product sustainability, combining eco-design with technology is essential. Today, product designers can use software to streamline data about the carbon footprint of the raw materials they are sourcing. As lab managers are considering different vendors, one question they may want to ask is, what tools and technologies are being used to accurately calculate the carbon footprint or environmental impact of a product?
As we continue using technology to advance sustainability efforts, could AI be a game-changer in developing reduced carbon products? While it's still uncertain which technologies will have the most impact, suppliers who effectively innovate and apply technology to create sustainable products are likely to see significant rewards for their efforts.
Technology and data can also help labs manage their own carbon reduction programs. There are digital platforms that serve as a central carbon emissions management tool so users can track the action being taken across their organization.
Keep moving forward
Sustainability initiatives must be at the heart of any organization to be successful. We must continue looking for creative ways to reduce our carbon footprint, while continuing to deliver the technologies and solutions our customers need to manufacture life-changing therapeutics. Companies with successful programs will have aligned their business to the greater good of the planet.
References:
1. Di Russo M, Zjalic D, Lombardi GS, et al. Impact of the 50 biggest pharma companies: a review of Environmental report aspiring to NetZero, Eur J Public Health. 2023 Oct; 33(Suppl 2). doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckad160.1182
