9 minute read
How can we cut the carbon footprint of the pharma industry?
CUTTING THE CARBON FOOTPRINT OF PHARMA’S SUPPLY CHAIN
Pharma, like every other industry, has an impact on the environment – and in the face of a climate crisis, it has a responsibility to find ways to mitigate this damage.
IN A GLOBALDATA SURVEY CONDUCTED LAST YEAR, 43 PER CENT OF RESPONDENTS CONSIDERED THE ENVIRONMENT THE MOST PRESSING ESG ISSUE FOR THE PHARMACEUTICAL SECTOR TO ADDRESS.
rug companies must therefore make a concerted effort to reduce the carbon footprint associated with getting their medicines to patients, but how? While several pharma companies have pledged to reduce their carbon footprint, they can achieve those goals only if every stakeholder in the process works to make the necessary changes.
Each stage of the pharmaceutical supply chain has a carbon footprint, right down to the very beginning, where the raw materials for active
pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are sourced. Jing-Ke Weng is Co-founder of Double Rainbow Biosciences, a sustainable biotech dedicated to developing new therapeutics with minimal impact on the environment. He says the manufacture of APIs for small-molecule drugs relies largely on chemicals derived from petroleum, a fossil fuel. There are many energy-intensive steps in the chemical synthesis of raw materials and solvents, and the amount of carbon it takes to make these molecules is usually not calculated. Double Rainbow’s long-term vision is to replace fossil fuel-reliant manufacturing with methods based on synthetic biology and inspired by the chemical processes seen in nature.
Weng’s group is trying to assemble microbial enzymes from diverse sources in a particular manner to make a molecule that can be incorporated into a new or existing drug. He explained, “Conventionally, these compounds have to come from natural resources, but now we have new technology to entirely replace that with a fermentation-based method, which is a major step.”
Manufacturing the finished pharmaceutical product is another
carbon-intensive stage of a pharma company’s supply chain. One of the most effective ways of reducing carbon emissions associated with drug production is to adopt continuous manufacturing, an efficient alternative to batch manufacturing, that combines multiple separate production stages into one single, continuous production line.
In 2014, US biotech Amgen opened a $200 million biomanufacturing plant incorporating continuous purification methods in Singapore. Compared with a traditional manufacturing facility, Amgen’s plant produces 69 per cent fewer carbon emissions, a promising figure for a company that plans to be carbon neutral in its operations by 2027.
French healthcare company Sanofi followed suit in 2019, opening a continuous manufacturing plant in Massachusetts, US, that it said will generate 80 per cent fewer carbon emissions than the company’s firstgeneration facility.
Scott Lawson, a Partner at PwC, said, “Continuous process manufacturing has been evolving rapidly over the last six to 10 years. The focus has been on small-molecule manufacturing principles and big pharma has made investments in this space. We've seen the number of authorised products (made with
continuous manufacturing) increase over the last two to three years – and as that portfolio increases, the use of continuous manufacturing becomes more attractive.”
If pharma and biotech companies are to meaningfully curb their carbon emissions over the next few years, moving away from fossil fuels and shifting to greener, renewable energy resources is a necessary step. In 2021, energy and automation giant Schneider Electric, ranked the world’s most sustainable corporation that same year, launched the Energize program to increase the pharmaceutical industry’s access to renewable energy. Through Energize, drugmakers will be given the opportunity to access and contract for renewable energy throughout their value chain. Ten global pharma companies signed up to promote the initiative and encourage their suppliers to decarbonise with renewables including AstraZeneca, Biogen, GSK, Johnson & Johnson (J&J), MSD, Novartis, Pfizer, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, and Takeda.
When it comes to greener energy, at least, the pharma industry at large appears committed to making changes. In addition to collaborating on the Energize program, many large drug companies have set ambitious carbon reduction targets for themselves. J&J aims to get its electricity solely from renewable
sources by 2025, with goals to achieve carbon neutrality across its own operations by 2030, and net zero emissions across its value chain by 2045. By 2025, MSD plans to be carbon neutral across its operations, and aims to reduce value chain emissions by 30 per cent before 2030.
Pfizer has pledged to go carbon neutral by 2030 and will, among other strategies, reduce direct emissions by 46 per cent, and purchase 100 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources. Following a virtual power purchase agreement with Vesper Energy, Pfizer expects its North American operations to be 100 per cent solar-powered by the end of 2023.
Over in Europe, Novartis is working to achieve carbon neutrality across its operations by 2025, and throughout its supply chain by 2030. The Swiss company’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Montse Montaner, said,
“Novartis is on track to deliver its 2025 carbon neutrality target for our own operations, with a 34 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions achieved to date, compared to our 2016 baseline. We have developed a detailed framework and robust plan to underpin effective collaboration with suppliers towards delivery of our 2030 carbon neutrality targets.”
Multinational Catalent, however, has beaten many of its fellow pharma players to the punch. In 2021, the company announced that an impressive 97 per cent of its electricity usage had been obtained from renewable sources such as wind, solar, hydroelectric, and biomass.
While drug manufacturing carries a large carbon footprint, the steps taken to distribute medicines out of the factory and into patients’ hands also have a significant
impact on the environment. One way by which distribution in pharma contributes to climate change is the use of cold chain shipping, which allows temperature-sensitive products to be transported at controlled temperatures that do not compromise their efficacy or safety. Usually, these temperatures must be maintained all the way from point of manufacture to the patient. An obvious way to reduce the carbon emissions caused by cold chain shipping is by investing in greener fuels and energy sources for transport vehicles. Hydrotreated vegetable oil, a renewable, biobased fuel that can be used in diesel engines, can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90 per cent, compared with regular diesel.
Lawson adds that companies should look to invest in localised manufacturing as a means of reducing the carbon footprint associated with pharmaceutical distribution. He asked, “Can we re-shore certain pieces of the manufacturing process, to optimise the amount of time a product has to be maintained within a storage environment or shipped amongst the different transportation solutions? Anything that reduces the complexity of the supply chain, and the number of movements that need to occur, is seen as a good thing.” The solutions for an eco-friendlier supply chain are gaining traction in the pharma industry, but is there a desire to change? Weng is hopeful that the industry will move in that direction in the next decade. He added, “The strongest force will come from the market itself – just the inability to do business as usual will be the main driving force for companies to think, at a fundamental level, how they could replace non-sustainable steps with more sustainable biology-based approaches.”
Meanwhile, Lawson believes “there's an appetite” in executives across the pharmaceutical sector to achieve net zero goals, but eco-friendly technology and greener methods must be applied throughout a drug company’s value chain to meaningfully reduce the industry’s impact. He concluded, “If the industry is to serve its mandate correctly, it needs to think holistically, right across the value chain. If we want to be net zero, all aspects of the value chain need to be achieving the net zero purpose, not just outsourcing the bits that are too difficult or complex. Given the highly science-driven nature of our sector, I do believe that it will take significant steps towards that.”
Source: www.pharmaceutical-technology.com
EXCLUSIVE
FIRST EDITION
SECOND EDITION THIRD EDITION
SAP explains the importance of the digitalisation of the supply chain for customers, and why cloud services make the company more customer-centric
WHERE DIGITALISATION
EXCLUSIVES
Hapag-Lloyd’s Director of Procurement Excellence,Sheds light on his company’s Julia Finning, and Head of Procurement, Daniel Braune, expertise, helping customers discuss the role of digitalisation in striving for the increase their operational industry-leading procurement functionefficiency
EXCLUSIVE
industry-leading procurement functionefficiency discuss the role of digitalisation in striving for the increase their operational Julia Finning, and Head of Procurement, Daniel Braune, expertise, helping customers Hapag-Lloyd’s Director of Procurement Excellence,Sheds light on his company’s
