Novo Nordisk, health and sustainable development go hand in hand.

Novo Nordisk is a leading company specializing in the treatment of diabetes as well as hemophilia, growth disorders and hormone therapy.

Founded in Denmark in 1923, it employed 43,100 people in 79 countries in 2019 and achieved a turnover of $ 19.5 million. Its products are marketed in 170 countries.

The ethical approach is very old within the company. It was in the 1970s that the desire to implement sustainable development in the overall strategy appeared. It is to be in tune with its identity and its activity that Novo Nordisk wants to be responsible towards the company and its partners. For proof its four historical dates:

• 1994: publication of an environmental report. At that time, the company was the first company in Denmark and one of the first in the world to take this step.
• 2006: signature of the World Wide Fund for Nature “Climate Saver” agreement. By this agreement, it already committed at the time to reduce its CO2 emissions by 10% by 2014. A commitment that it had also kept.
• 2007: association with Dong Energy, world leader in offshore wind power. Danish production sites are gradually switching to wind power, supplied by an exceptionally large farm. Any savings thus made will be reinvested by the company in other sources of green energy.
• 2009: membership of the Copenhagen Climate Council (CCC).

What about in 2020?

The company's goal is simple…: to discover and develop innovative biological drugs that can be made available to all patients around the world.

… But demanding to implement.

All the more demanding as the observation is relatively well known. Each year, the manufacture of medicines requires billions of liters of water, an enormous consumption of electricity and involves a production of CO² in perpetual increase due in particular to transport. Not to mention all the utensils essential for treatment such as syringes or ampoules that are found in nature after use.

It is to fight against this waste and to optimize the limited natural resources that the company has opted for a circular economy of its activities.

What is it?

Society must find new ways to develop products that can be recycled or re-used. It must reinvent itself in order to minimize consumption and waste. This also requires a closer link with its suppliers.

Its strong commitment to quickly achieve zero impact on the environment will take 3 forms:

• Towards renewable electricity

Novo Nordisk reached the figure of 100% renewable electricity in all of its production in 2020. The next step will be zero CO² in all of its operations and transport in 2030

• Towards new products that respect the environment.

New products, like old ones for that matter, will have to generate less waste throughout the manufacturing process - raw materials, assemblies - until the end of their life. Everything must be able to be recovered and recycled.

• Towards closer relations with suppliers in order to jointly define new zero impact challenges and share the ethical values that make up the supply chain.