Five ways pharma is reducing its carbon emissions

Lupin Healthcare has offset all the carbon emissions associated with its new asthma inhaler. We look at four other ways the pharma sector is aiming to become carbon neutral

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Leila Hawkins
05/31/2022

The pharmaceutical industry produces 50 percent more greenhouse gas emissions than the automotive sector. To counter this, pharma and the wider healthcare sectors are increasingly aiming to reduce their CO2 output, with the aim of becoming carbon neutral.

Earlier this month, Lupin Healthcare announced it was releasing a a new inhaler for people with asthma that is carbon neutral.

Luforbec is a pressurized metered dose inhaler (pMDI) used to treat adult asthma and severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and will be commercialized for use in the UK.

Across England, Wales and Scotland 61.1 million inhaler items are prescribed each year, with a total carbon footprint of 1.3 billion kg of CO2. Some inhalers have a much higher carbon footprint than others, yet according to recommendations from healthcare professionals patients should be able to choose the inhaler they find easiest to use.

An assessment by environmental consultants Carbon Footprint Ltd, analysed the entire life cycle of Luforbec including manufacture, distribution, use and disposal. It found that Lupin Healthcare has offset all carbon emissions associated with this inhaler, enabling it to become the first carbon neutral pMDI available to the UK market.

This meets the aims of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), after announcing in October 2020 that it was committing to becoming carbon net zero. It is the first public health system to adopt this approach, which is also significant as the NHS is the biggest healthcare system in the world.

“Achieving carbon neutrality for Luforbec through Lupin Healthcare’s carbon offsetting program directly signals our dedication to supporting the NHS Green Agenda by providing healthcare professionals and their patients with a sustainable and cost-effective pMDI treatment option from today,” said Ben Ellis, General Manager at Lupin Healthcare UK.

A number of big pharma players have been announcing their intent to become carbon neutral in the coming years. Here are some of the initiatives they have recently put into practice:

Sanofi’s carbon-efficient production plant

Sanofi has begun work on a vaccine manufacturing site in Singapore that will be “nearly” carbon neutral. The site will enable the manufacture of multiple vaccines, with just 12 days needed to switch from making one vaccine to another. To do this it will use energy generated by its own solar panels. It is expected to be fully operational by 2026.

Novartis’ shipment consolidation

Novartis is committed to becoming carbon neutral across its value chain by 2040. To date it has managed to cut 18,000 shipments a year, saving 1,400 tonnes of CO2 by consolidating its shipping operations. It has also started to use solvents at most of its manufacturing plants that are recycled and can be reused.

Philips’ circular economy model

Following the principles of circular economy, Philips is shifting its model from selling medical devices or systems as a one-off purchase to offering equipment use as a service, such as patient monitoring equipment for hospitals. Whenever equipment is returned, it is repaired, recycled or disposed of in an environmentally responsible way.

Pharmanovia’s sustainable supply chain goals

Life cycle management company Pharmanovia launched its comprehensive environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy in April 2022. As part of this it is set to start collecting its partners’ carbon data information through its digital ESG platform, which will enable it to better monitor its global carbon footprint and make changes based on this data. It has also set a target to recycle the materials in the secondary packaging used in the 14.6m packs of medicine the company sells each year.

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