By consuming resources wisely, we have reduced environmental impacts and lowered costs for both the company and society. With production expected to increase in coming years, it is important to be able to provide treatment for more patients while decreasing environmental impacts.
For Novo Nordisk environmental management is much more than good housekeeping; increasingly, it extends beyond the factory gates and comprises the whole supply chain.
In 2009, we cut consumption of energy by 11%, water by 20%, raw materials by 40%, and wastewater by 19%. These reductions were due to optimization of insulin bulk production in Kalundborg, Denmark, as well as the cLEAN® programme and energy and water-saving projects at various sites.
CO2 emissions dropped by 32% due to reduced energy consumption as well as purchase of electricity from an offshore wind turbine farm.
Policy
We formulated our first environmental policy in the early 1980s. It has been revisited several times but the core intention has remained the same. The current environmental policy is stated below:
In Novo Nordisk we will continuously improve our environmental performance.
This means that we will:
- promote environmental awareness and integrate environmental considerations into our business processes
- develop and apply sustainable processes and products
- reduce our use of resources and strive to prevent pollution
- monitor and evaluate environmental performance throughout the entire supply chain
- engage in stakeholder dialogue and partnerships and report on our performance
- comply with environmental legislation and relevant requirements.
Strategy
The environmental strategy and management system serve as robust tools that support the policy and the commitment to environmental responsibility. The strategy is reviewed regularly to respond to emerging issues and proactively address societal and business challenges.
All our production sites worldwide are certified according to the international standards ISO 14001 (environment) and OHSAS 18001 (health & safety). Also the pilot plants in R&D are ISO 14001 certified.
The responsibility for this lies with the corporate environmental department, External Environment. The environmental, health and safety strategy 2009-2011 for Product Supply, which covers all production sites globally, shows that we will continue to increase our production. This means we must treat more patients without increasing our environmental impacts. The focus areas for our production sites are:
- Energy
- Water
- Waste
- Accidental releases
Governance
An Environmental, Bioethics and Occupational Health and Safety Committee, chaired by the Executive Vice President of Corporate Relations, is the company's highest authority with regard to environmental, bioethical and occupational health & safety issues. The committee works on behalf of Executive Management to ensure that:
- Novo Nordisk's interests and needs regarding environmental and bioethical issues are met.
- Novo Nordisk remains in compliance with the commitments spelled out in the Charter of the Novo Group.
The committee focuses on following corporate priorities:
- Climate action
- Environmental assessments in R&D
- Transportation
- Health & safety
Partnerships
Novo Nordisk is an active player on the international agenda, e.g. through its membership of industry groups and through engagements in partnerships between industry, governments, communities and NGOs.
We subscribe to the International Chamber of Commerce's Business Charter for Sustainable Development and is a supporter of the UN Global Compact and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
Furthermore, we are member of the WWF's Climate Savers Programme. For more information see Climate Action.