Novo Nordisk has been focusing on its use of resources since the late 1990s through in a number of eco-productivity investments. However, to be able to continually reduce its environmental footprint, Novo Nordisk will be placing more emphasis on pollution prevention through sustainable design.
In the case of Novo Nordisk, the environmental impact of products is highest in the production phase, and the production of pharmaceuticals is resource-intense, particularly in terms of water and energy.
The company's influence on the environmental impact of its activities decreases through the products' life cycle. Once the product or process has been designed and validated, the interventions that can be carried out are minimal. It is therefore vital that environmental considerations are integrated into the development and design of new manufacturing processes and products.
Novo Nordisk Product Supply is well underway with implementing cLEAN® - an adapted LEAN manufacturing programme that aims at optimising flow and increasing productivity. In other words, cLEAN® leads to better utilisation of production facilities, raw materials and energy, thereby making it possible to postpone expansion of production facilities. However, there is a limit to how much optimisation can achieve, and this is why design becomes fundamentally important.
Pollution prevention
Management of pollution though the development and certification of management systems has become a common practice in environmental management. In recent years, the debate has shifted from pollution management to pollution prevention. Greater emphasis is placed on preventing pollution through better design of the product, choice of sound raw materials and design of processes. While eco-efficiency can deliver the incremental improvements in material use and environmental impact, major improvements in resource productivity can only be achieved through sustainable design of our products/processes. Focusing on resource use reduces resource depletion at one end and pollution at the other end. This results in lower costs for both business and society.
Environmentally sound products and processes
Two focus groups work to promote the integration of environmental issues into the design of drug manufacturing processes and also the development and design of new devices. The EnviroProcess group has been established with the aim of developing an environmental assessment toolbox for all drug manufacturing-related R&D projects. The toolbox will be ready for implementation in 2006. In parallel to this, the EnviroDevice has been established to handle devices, packaging and its associated environmental impacts.
Over the years, Novo Nordisk has reported on five top-line performance indicators that are all related to reducing the organisation's environmental footprint:
Eco-productivity indices (EPIs) relate the scale of production to the consumption of resources. EPIs are based on eco-efficiency thinking and reflect internationally adopted views. Eco-efficiency is defined as the delivery of competitively-priced goods and services that satisfy human needs and bring quality of life, while progressively reducing ecological impacts and resource intensity throughout the lifecycle to a level at least in line with the Earth's estimated carrying capacity. In 2005, Novo Nordisk continued to improve eco-effiency, a measure of the ability to produce more products with use of less energy and water. In the period 2001-2005 the average annual realised improvements were 8% for water and 14% for energy, as measured by EPI indices. Hence, the five-year targets of improvements of the water and energy use efficiency at 5% and 4% per annum, respectively, have been achieved.
Full compliance with local laws and regulations is a company policy and a key part of the company-wide Environmental Management System. Breaches of regulatory limit values, regulatory limit values with repeated breaches and accidental releases are indicators of performance. One of the key challenges for Novo Nordisk in relation to compliance is pH in wastewater. At production sites, much effort has been made to implement preventive measures such as neutralisation systems. The company will continue to focus on compliance and will follow developments closely. Hence, in 2006 there is a Balanced Scorecard target to reduce the number of accidental releases to a level below that of 2005 performance. In addition, Novo Nordisk reports the number of complaints received, eg from neighbours.
Certification of production facilities is instrumental to complying with legislation and regulatory limit values. Novo Nordisk has adopted the ISO14001 certification scheme, which has now been implemented at all but two production sites globally. All production sites will be ISO14001-certified. See a list of sites with ISO14001 certificates. This certification scheme also has built-in mechanisms for pollution prevention, eg through decreased use of raw materials, water and energy, and decreased environmental impacts per produced unit.
Environmental data
The environmental data comprise inputs and outputs such as consumption of water, energy and raw materials, spent biomass, emissions and waste. Further, more sophisticated information is provided on environmental impact potentials.
Since 1994 the validity of these data has been assured by independent assurance providers in accordance with the Novo Nordisk Way of Management. Read more about the assurance process.
Novo Nordisk’s environmental footprint
Compliance data
In 2005 Novo Nordisk continued to be challenged on compliance. The number of breaches of regulatory limit values increased to 174 from 74 in 2004. The number of accidental releases increased from 29 in 2004 to 83 in 2005. The targets for both indicators are zero and were therefore not met.
The registered breaches and accidental releases are assessed as being minor incidents with no or only minor impact on the external environment. 164 out of 174 breaches of regulatory limits (94%) are related to pH and temperature in wastewater, which are monitored through continuous measurements. The increase in the number of breaches is therefore largely due to the fact that there have been challenges in dealing with pH in the wastewater at most sites in spite of the fact that the company has invested up to DKK 10 million per neutralisation system at some sites.
Several initiatives have been taken to ensure increased focus on compliance and one reporting standard has been successfully implemented globally. A total of 50 out of the 83 accidental releases (60%) were related to accidental releases of cooling agents such as HCFCs and HFCs. A campaign in 2005 focused on accidental releases from these types of facilities. In 2005 there was one accidental release of GMOs at the site in Montes Claros.
There will be a continued focus on compliance and preventive measures to help curb the curve. In 2006 a three-stringed approach will be taken to address this challenge: first, a revision of approvals in close cooperation with authorities; second, education; and third, focused exchange of experiences.
Input
The consumption of resources has increased since 2004. This is the case for both water and energy consumption, which increased by 9% and 7% respectively. However, at the same time the efficiency of water and energy use improved by 8% and 9% respectively. The consumption of materials increased by 35%. This large increase was mainly due to changes in the production process in Kalundborg, which resulted in a high consumption of certain raw materials.
Raw materials and packaging
The volume of raw materials and packaging increased from 111,000 tons in 2004 to 150,000 tons in 2005. This figure reflects increased production volume.
Water
Water consumption increased from 2,756,000 m3 in 2004 to 3,014,000 m3 in 2005.
Energy
Energy consumption increased from 2,408,000 GJ in 2004 to 2,591,000 GJ in 2005.
Novo Nordisk's emission profile The figures below shows Novo Nordisk's energy consumption profile, with 80% of the energy supplied by external energy producers based on the estimated figures for 2004:
Output
Emissions to air
In 2005 emissions to air in general developed as expected. The emission of organic solvents increased by 8% due to smaller increases at all sites. Of energy-related emissions, CO2 increased by 5% due to a general increase in energy consumption of 7%.
In 2005 Novo Nordisk decided to change its method for calculating energy-related emissions. This new calculation method is in compliance with the GHG Protocol and approved by WWF as a basis for Novo Nordisk's inclusion in the Climate Savers programme. Using this new calculation method, the level of CO2 emissions has increased for all reporting years except for 2004, where it is lower than reported in 2004.
In 2005 there was an increase in solid waste of 9% compared to 2004. This was a combination of an increase in non-hazardous waste of 32% and a decrease in hazardous waste of 8%. The increase in non-hazardous waste was mainly due to the registration of a new waste fraction at site Hillerød which accounted for 16% of total non-hazardous waste. The recycling percentage decreased to 33% from 40% in 2004. Since 2003 large quantities of ethanol waste from site Kalundborg are sent for destruction elsewhere and not recycled for safety and environmental reasons. This development follows the change in production towards producing more insulin analogues. The site is working with a range of initiatives to ensure a high rate of regeneration of the ethanol before it becomes waste. The solid waste is exclusive of the quantity of by-products.
Liquid waste
The changes in the measured components in the wastewater with regard to nitrogen and phosphorus were at the same level in 2005 as in 2004, as expected with the increase in production. Emissions of COD decreased by 10%. A significant part of the decrease was due to a 38% decrease in the COD quantity at site Bagsværd due to a lower COD content in the wastewater from the production facilities.
Producing pharmaceutical products for the world market is greatly dependent on transport, which has environmental impacts from atmospheric emissions of eg CO2, CO, SO2, NOx and hydrocarbons originating from combustion of fossil fuels.
These emissions contribute to environmental impacts such as global warming, acidification and photochemical smog. In accordance with the company's Environmental and Purchasing Policies, since 2000 environmental considerations have been an integral part of the annual evaluation of the transport companies used as suppliers.
Novo Nordisk uses various modes of transport to ship its materials from Denmark. However, while some data are avalaible, these do not paint a complete picture because they do not account for all goods transported around the world.
This page has been assessed by PricewaterhouseCoopers as part of its assessment of Novo Nordisk’s statement that it reports ‘in accordance’ with GRI. Please refer to Audit and assurance for a full description of the nature of assurance offered.
