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When Cytiva recently surveyed the biopharma industry to gain insights into sustainability progress, there was good news and bad news. Companies are succeeding in managing Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions (Scope 1 covers direct emissions from owned or controlled sources, while Scope 2 covers indirect emissions resulting from the purchase of electricity, steam, heat or cooling)—but when it comes to Scope 3, struggles persist.
Why are Scope 3 carbon emissions such a challenge to measure and manage?
In looking at data from the 2024 Biopharma Sustainability Review, a shocking 83% of those surveyed are not confident in their organization’s ability to accurately measure Scope 3 emissions. What makes this key element of sustainability so difficult to get a handle on?
For one, Scope 3 emissions include anything generated from stakeholders across the entire value chain. A company can control their own environmental impact easily, but influencing suppliers is harder. “When we start talking about the embedded impacts in our supply chain, that’s where it’s challenging,” says Eleni Pasdeki-Clewer, Senior Sustainability Manager, Global Procurement at Roche.
And the complexity doesn’t stop there. Scope 3 also includes any environmental risks following the product to the patient and beyond.
“When a patient takes the medication, what do you do with the packaging and device?” says Aude Arkam, Head of Eco Design and Circular Economy at Sanofi. “Then you have a second layer, managed by a specific team, which is eco-pharmacovigilance: when the product goes through the human body, it then circulates to wastewater. Our Sanofi team is making sure inflow and outflow respect the body and the environment, because we believe there is no healthy patient without a healthy planet.”
Unfortunately, not all companies are taking this wholistic approach to understanding and addressing emissions. Life cycle assessments (LCAs) evaluating a product’s environmental impact over its entire lifetime offer the key insights needed—and less than half of companies (47%) currently conduct effective LCAs.
How can we improve the quality of emissions data?
Companies don’t have the information they need to make well-
informed decisions that will drive Scope 3 emissions reduction. Sixty-eight percent say a lack of data is a barrier to achieving sustainability targets and, as previously stated, data that is available is not always reliable.
Cytiva is working to address these shortcomings by taking a careful look at areas where most Scope 3 emissions reside, including upstream and downstream transportation, and purchased goods and services. “We’re focusing on data depth, relevance, and quality within our own operations and across the value chain,” says Ryan Walker, Senior Director of Sustainability.
Optimizing LCAs is another way companies are proactively working to improve Scope 3 measurement, and Aude Arkam says technology is playing an important role. “We can use generative AI for LCAs, decreasing the time it takes to collect data extracts and to generate reports. Generative AI also offers the opportunity to learn from the past and ease decision making.”
What role will collaboration play in making sustainability—and business—gains?
Successfully taking on Scope 3 emissions requires all players across the value chain working toward shared goals—but 69% of sustainability survey respondents say weak collaboration is a barrier to progress.
And this lack of teamwork must change. As the industry faces pressure to reduce its environmental impact, biopharma companies, suppliers, and regulatory bodies need to work together to develop a creative, unified strategy.
Thankfully, companies like Cytiva are showing the industry that collaboration is possible. “With more than 60% of our Scope 3 emissions coming upstream from our suppliers, we work collaboratively to reduce our environmental footprint,” says Walker.
Organizations looking to collaborate for sustainability will be happy to hear there are business benefits at stake, as well. Those leading in Scope 3 reduction efforts are not only setting transparent sustainability targets with suppliers, sharing talent and skills, and offering financial incentives for sustainability wins, they’re also improving their bottom line.
Read the 2024 Global Biopharma Sustainability Review to learn more about how the industry can create more impactful strategies for managing Scope 3 emissions.
cytiva.com
