We believe it is our duty to consider the sustainability performance of our products throughout their life cycle, starting with the development stage.
Our approach to sustainable product design
In our Healthcare business sector, we aim to reduce any adverse impacts our medicines may have on the environment during their development, manufacture, transportation, use, and disposal.
In 2023, we have worked on an update of our healthcare overarching strategy to make our medicines, our medical devices and their packaging more ecologically sustainable and user-friendly. The update strategy is planned to be deployed in 2024.
We are working to advance environmental compatibility across various phases of the healthcare value chain. For example, in pharmaceutical development, we have defined an ecotoxicological testing strategy that involves identifying environmental properties of drug candidates early in development. Ideally, we can then use this knowledge to avoid any harmful emissions into the air and water.
In 2023, we continued to implement the Design for Sustainability framework in our Healthcare R&D approach. The initiative includes establishing a governance framework to integrate sustainability more effectively during product development. It also involves defining sustainability criteria for qualitative and quantitative scorecards we can use to measure our sustainability impacts.
Our approach to sustainable packaging
In 2023, the Healthcare business sector continued to implement MPact, our sustainable packaging initiative that is aligned with our Global Healthcare Operations strategy. MPact investigates product packaging solutions to reduce the overall environmental impact. Its three primary objectives are to reduce Scope 3 GHG emissions, to reduce packaging materials while increasing the circularity of packaging, and to assess replacing secondary and tertiary plastic packaging by 2030. MPact also analyzes the requirements of the European Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) in order to be ready, aligned and compliant in the upcoming years.
Meanwhile, we continue to implement various initiatives to reduce our product packaging, switch to more sustainable materials and promote recycling and circularity.
Roles and responsibilities
Our Healthcare business sector has integrated sustainability across its R&D and operating units. The implementation the sustainability strategy is steered by the Healthcare Executive Committee. Any decisions made regarding sustainability objectives are cascaded to the corresponding units, which are responsible for implementing measures to achieve these objectives.
Our commitment: Chemicals and product policies
Within our Healthcare business sector, chemical product safety is a key sustainability aspect when developing, producing and distributing products. We strive to comply with relevant legal requirements regarding chemicals regulations, hazard communication and local and regional chemical registration activities.
We have an intranet page on chemical regulations for the Healthcare business sector that is aligned with our Group-wide EHS policy. It provides a framework and information on exposure limits, Predicted No Effect Concentration (PNEC)s, Globally Harmonized System (GHS) classes and categories, safety data sheets, labeling products according to GHS requirements, etc.
Further information can be found under chemical product safety.
Making product design and packaging more sustainable
Green Biotech
Launched in 2022, our Green Biotech program helps to integrate sustainable innovation and state-of-the-art technology into our development processes and products along the clinical manufacturing value chain. This program is aligned with the sustainability strategy to drive progress for more than one billion people through sustainable science and technology and is linked to other sustainability projects aimed at helping us achieve climate neutrality by 2040.
Compete to Green
During the reporting year, we added various sustainable product design and packaging initiatives to our Compete to Green program. This transformation program aims to comprehensively integrate sustainability across our business. We are currently applying the Principles of Green Chemistry to support our vision of designing sustainable products.
Slim packaging solutions
Launched in 2021, Slim Pack requires fewer raw materials, reduces transport volumes and is more convenient for customers and patients as it requires less storage space.
Since 2021, thanks to Slim Pack, we have reduced the ecological footprint of our Pergoveris®, Gonal-f® and Ovidrel® fertility pens by design. Slim Pack is 40% smaller than its predecessor and it is 100% free of plastic components. Plastic trays holding the pens were replaced by a paper carton alternative.
In 2023, the introduction of Slim Pack continued in further European countries. Its global rollout is expected to be completed in 2025.
Take-Back fertility pen pilot
To progress towards complete end-to-end sustainability for our Fertility portfolio – from manufacturing to patient use – we launched with consortium partners the Take-Back pilot program in Denmark in 2023. Through this program it is possible to hand in used injection pens from our company at fertility clinics throughout Denmark. The 12-month pilot program allows patients to return their used fertility injection pens for recycling. It aims to achieve a 25% return rate. The pilot aims to achieve a 75% recyclability rate of the returned pens to recycle their plastic, glass and metal.