EFPIA and its members recognise the urgent need to address climate change and safeguard natural resources, given the profound impact on both human health and nature. We further acknowledge concerns of pharmaceuticals in the environment. It’s essential to move away from traditional methods and adopt innovative practices that reduce our environmental impact. We strive to go beyond compliance on the targets set within the various EU legislative requirements as part of the EU Green Deal initiatives under the Zero Pollution, Circular Economy and Climate Action plans. 

As leaders in the pharmaceutical sector, we are committed to taking decisive actions to reduce our environmental impacts across the value chain and contribute to building resilient and sustainable health system. We are leading the transition towards the decarbonisation in the pharmaceutical sector by setting ambitious science-based targets, investing in renewable energy, driving circularity, and collaborating with stakeholders.  

How we commit to move forward:  

• Carbon Reduction Targets: We pledge to set ambitious targets that are science-based to reduce our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across our operations and value chains while engaging our suppliers to do the same. These targets will align with the goals outlined in the Paris Agreement to limit global warming. In addition, we strive to get these targets externally verified.  
• Invest in Renewable electricity and clean technology solutions: We will improve energy efficiency and prioritise the transition to renewable energy sources to power our facilities and in the investment in low carbon clean tech solutions. We will explore opportunities for on-site renewable energy generation and investing in off-site renewable energy projects where feasible.  
• Advance circularity: We aim to implement measures to improve resource efficiency and drive circularity throughout our operations and value chain. This includes designing products for reduced environmental impacts, optimising manufacturing processes and supply chains, improving waste management, fostering circularity solutions, prolonging the life of products, influencing the behaviours of patients, customers and stakeholders and implementing sustainable packaging and end of life solutions.  
• Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing: We recognise that addressing climate change requires collective pre-competitive action. Therefore, we aim to identify opportunities to collaborate with other stakeholders, including other industry sectors, suppliers, authorities, regulators, academia, patients and civil society, to share best practices, research findings, and innovations in decarbonisation efforts. We will facilitate collaborative initiatives, such as industry-wide working groups and knowledge-sharing platforms, to foster innovation and collective problem-solving in decarbonisation efforts. We recognise the partnerships already established in the field of climate and health and aim to draw inspiration from this work.  
• Pharmaceuticals in the Environment: We are committed to continue playing an active role in addressing concerns around risks associated with Pharmaceuticals in the Environment (PiE). Minimising the impact of medicines on the environment while safeguarding access to effective treatments for patients is a critical issue across all sectors of healthcare, environmental risk assessment plays an important role.  We are continually engaging with stakeholders and across industry to enhance our processes, and find new ways to detect the trace amounts of Pharmaceuticals in the environment, understanding their impact, prioritising APIs posing a potential risk to the environment and also further reducing discharges from manufacturing plants worldwide.   

 Industry supports an open dialogue and invites stakeholders including decision makers and regulators to progress on these commitments. EU medicines Regulators should prioritise the flexibility and support for innovation in the (re)development and supply of medicines to address climate, environment and sustainability targets.   

Together, let’s commit to these goals for a healthier planet.