As the pharmaceutical industry continues to evolve and tackle modern challenges, sustainability has emerged as a key focus. Janice MacLennan, CEO of St Clair Consulting and creator of the NMBLR strategy platform, sheds light on the efforts being made in the industry to transition towards a more environmentally conscious approach in this guest post.
The future of pharma, as in all industries, must be a green one. Global Net Zero targets can only be achieved by compliant governments and industries coming together to work towards a more sustainable future. But while ESG (environmental, social, governance) sustainability targets are essential, how do we go about achieving them in pharma without compromising the patient experience or speed at which medicines and therapies are brought to market?
We must look at strategy and how by making our strategic process greener we can play our part in the much bigger process of offsetting the carbon footprint of pharma as a whole.
Location, location, location
The Life Sciences industries are by nature reactive and insightful ones. Moves have already been made by companies such as Pfizer, GSK and Sanofi to reduce carbon footprints and focus on more sustainable and ecological business models, and this is a trend that is set to continue.
I see the pharma giants continuing to invest in innovation and collaboration as evidenced by the relocation of European big pharma to be better placed to form cutting-edge partnerships with leading scientific institutions, organisations and stakeholders, and have offices that are designed to support new hybrid ways of working.
Not only are they locating to more easy-to-reach places, ones which are easily accessible by public transport, they are also choosing more energy-efficient buildings, and promoting hybrid models of working meaning less people traveling to one central place at any one time.
The environmental footprint of offices is now a key consideration with a focus on energy consumption, the health and wellbeing of their employees and reduced CO2 emissions.
AstraZeneca was one of the first to move to Kings Cross in London in February 2022, French pharma Sanofi officially moved into its swanky new global home base in Paris – dubbed La Maison Sanofi – at the end of 2022, and both GSK and Novartis have signaled their intent to move into London into workplaces that are “accessible, inclusive and sustainable” later in 2023/2024. Since the pandemic began, Big Pharma companies such as Pfizer, GSK and Novartis have carefully considered how to situate their employees amid a shift to remote or hybrid work and then a return to offices.
I see more flexible work models being adopted, with more agile approaches.
Remove the paper trail
Still printing off documents to sign, scan and send back? A recent study by Docusign revealed that US companies print 1.5 trillion pages per year. Paper purchase, printing and copying, and scanning costs all add up, then consider the costs associated with storage, delivery and disposal, and that’s a huge chunk of a business’s budget that could be avoided were they to eliminate paper trails.
Be it post-it notes on desks, printing off PowerPoints to annotate then edit, or gathering round flip charts for brainstorming sessions, needless waste of paper is a generations-old practice that we’re finally reducing, but are we going far enough?
The emergence of technology such as NMBLR which allows real-time annotation that is traceable to each user, is the future of the paperless workplace. NMBLR is green, replacing paper-based processes and all their supporting energy-dependent activities such as physical document storage and delivery. It is also more secure than paper-based forms of authentication.
With the removal of paper we also create a more secure environment with regards to the documents we are reading. Many times I have sat on a plane and picked up a previous passenger’s notes or instructions, items that should clearly be confidential. There is no risk of this with NMBLR, which has invested in obtaining ISO 27001 certification – the internationally recognised specification for an Information Security Management System, or ISMS. It’s the only auditable standard that deals with the overall engagement of information security.
Net Zero goals
As discussed, not only is the extensive waste of paper an issue being tackled, but also the energy needed to then print, scan, and shred, often just moments after it reaches our hands. The emissions from printers and other electronic equipment can be offset by using platforms such as NMBLR. People are also looking at reducing the number of business trips they and/or their employees take, through an increase in the use of video conferencing. Again an app such as NMBLR, which makes it easy for people to contribute asynchronously and in virtual meetings, can help, and bring businesses that bit closer to their ESG targets.
Employee welfare and happiness
As education on environmental issues continues, there is a growing movement, particularly among younger employees, to seek out fair and sustainable employers. A 2019 McKinsey report revealed that almost 40% of millennials have chosen a job because of company sustainability. Furthermore, more than 10% of workers said they’d be willing to go as far as to take a $5,000-$10,000 pay cut.
Nearly 70% of respondents said that if a company had a strong sustainability plan, it would affect their decision to stay with that company long term. More than a third said that they’ve given more time and effort to a job because of their employer’s sustainability agenda. Another 30% said that they’ve left a job in the past because of the company’s lack of a sustainability plan. The majority said that sustainability is either important or very important to them personally, and the majority also said that businesses should play a large role in advancing sustainability.
The numbers speak volumes. If we are to attract the cream of the crop, if we are to have our pick of high caliber employees, we need to focus on sustainability, and pharma will follow this.
Attracting investors
Research published by Betterment last year shows that 54% of Gen Z and millennials hold ESG investments, compared to only 42% of boomers and 25% of Gen Xers.
From combating climate change to expanding the company’s diversity, or calling for more corporate equitable policies, pharma manufacturers need to now understand what younger generational investors care about in order to not only build an effective ESG strategy but to increase their pharmaceutical portfolios.
Brand values
Major brands have hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of value contingent on how sustainable they are perceived to be, according to a new study* by Brand Finance – and that’s the case whether they are seen as sustainability champions or not.
Robert Haigh, Strategy & Sustainability Director, Brand Finance, says: “Failing to communicate clearly about ESG topics puts value at risk. Consumers are relatively trusting of sustainability claims, and clearly value brand’s commitment to sustainability, so under-communicating or ‘green-hushing’ is a missed opportunity. On the other hand, communication must be authentic and supported by action, because over-claiming or ‘greenwashing’ exposes the business to hundreds of millions of dollars of reputational damage”.
Perceptions of sustainability matter more for some brands and sectors than others. Tesla, for example, is particularly financially reliant on sustainability perceptions: 26.9% of its brand value is associated with a reputation for sustainability. Similarly, sustainability perceptions play an important role in the luxury auto sector with an average sustainability driver score of 22.9% – well ahead of the next sector, soft drinks on 13.7%.
And amid concerns about greenwashing, Brand Finance finds that 62% of consumers believe claims about sustainability made by brands. That said, 79% also indicated they had reduced their use of a brand if they’d discovered it was acting in an unsustainable way.
ESG Roles
As we have seen, across the life sciences companies are committing to ESG goals. And to ratify these commitments, not just pay lip service, several now employ dedicated ESG strategists and managers to ensure targets are stuck to.
Head of ESG strategy at Eli Lilly & Company, Jim Greffet, said last year: “Lilly has a proud history of sustainability but today, more than ever, we believe performance in these areas is central to our overall success.
“Greater transparency is a mandate for all businesses and we are excited to implement standard ESG frameworks to report on our progress.”
As awareness grows, so does commitment.
A sustainable future
Be it ethical or pragmatic, it seems goals are very much the future of sustainability in the pharmaceutical industry. I will now watch with interest to see how much further the industry takes them…
About Author
With more than 30 years experience in strategy in the Life Sciences and Pharmaceutical industries, Janice MacLennan is CEO at St Clair Consulting and creator of the NMBLR strategy platform.
