Environmental management

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Environmental management

Ensuring environmental sustainability is one of the global challenges addressed by the UN Millennium Development Goals. Loss of environmental resources not only upsets the ecological balance of the Earth, but also has a huge impact on human lives. In addition, the unequal access to resources means that in some parts of the world economic growth is hindered by the lack of eg clean drinking water, whereas in other parts of the world the abundance of and access to energy is accelerating the depletion of fossil fuels.

Governments and intergovernmental organisations such as the United Nation (UN) recognise the urgency of this issue and seek to promote the integration of the principles of sustainable development into national and regional policy programmes. Legislation and policy instruments such as taxation and regulation aim to curb or even reverse the loss of environmental resources, but not even these initiatives fully factor in the environmental costs and the potentially negative impacts on human lives in the long term. The business community has a key role to play if we are to achieve more sustainable growth.

Environmental issues such as global warming and climate change, ozone layer depletion, use of freshwater and fossil fuels, and waste generation call for collaborative efforts and responsible action. As corporate citizens, businesses, like other actors in society, have a responsibility to contribute to environmental sustainability, and – being in many cases not only highly dependant on access to resources but also heavy users of resources such as energy, water and chemicals – companies must support efforts to decouple environmental impacts from economic growth. As the sphere of influence of companies expands, so does their sphere of responsibility in the eyes of the global community and the societies in which they operate.

Environmental management is much more than good housekeeping; increasingly, it extends beyond the factory gates and comprises the whole supply chain.

See here for our environmental performance in 2008

Novo Nordisk's approach

Novo Nordisk is committed to ‘strive to conduct its activities in a financially, environmentally and socially responsible way’. Environmental responsibility implies working to continuously improve the company's environmental performance by setting high objectives and integrating environmental considerations into daily business activities. To ensure that environmental priorities are attuned with stakeholders' and society's concerns and requirements, the company maintains an open dialogue with stakeholders, communicates its activities, and reports annually on its performance.

In this area, as in any other business undertaking, Novo Nordisk is an active player on the international agenda, e.g. through its membership of industry groups and through engagements in partnerships between industry, governments, communities and NGOs.

Novo Nordisk subscribes to the International Chamber of Commerce's Business Charter for Sustainable Development and is a supporter of the UN Global Compact and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. In 2006 Novo Nordisk signed an agreement with WWF to become a member of the Climate Savers Programme and in 2007 furthermore signed ‘Caring for Climate: The Business Leadership Platform’ under the UN Global Compact and the ‘Bali Communiqué on Climate Change’.

Environmental policy

Novo Nordisk formulated its first environmental policy in the early 1980s. Since then it has been revisited several times but the core has remained the same over the years. The current environmental policy is stated below:

In Novo Nordisk we will continuously improve our environmental performance.

This means that we will:

• promote environmental awareness and integrate environmental considerations into our business processes
• develop and apply sustainable processes and products
• reduce our use of resources and strive to prevent pollution
• monitor and evaluate environmental performance throughout the entire supply chain
• engage in stakeholder dialogue and partnerships and report on our performance
• comply with environmental legislation and relevant requirements.

Environmental strategy

Novo Nordisk's environmental strategy and management system serve as robust tools that support the policy and the commitment to environmental responsibility. The strategy is reviewed to respond to emerging issues and proactively address societal and business challenges.

An Environment & Bioethics Committee, chaired by the EVP of Corporate Relations, is the company's highest authority with regard to environmental , bioethical and occupational health & safety issues. The committee works on behalf of Executive Management to ensure that:

• Novo Nordisk's interests and needs regarding environmental and bioethical issues are met.
• Novo Nordisk remains in compliance with the commitments spelled out in the Charter of the Novo Group.

The committee focuses on following corporate priorities:

• Climate change
• Environmental assessments in R&D
• Transportation
• Health & safety

We are as an integral part of our strategic approach implementing certified environmental, health and safety management systems according to the ISO 14001 standard and OHSAS18001 at our production sites worldwide. The responsibility for this lies with the corporate environmental department, External Environment. In 2008 the environmental, health and safety strategy 2009-2011 for Product Supply was approved by the committee. The strategy shows that we will continue to increase our production and thereby treating more patients without increasing our EHS impact. The focus areas for our production sites are:

• Energy
• Water
• Waste
• Accidental releases
• Occupational injuries
• Ergonomics
  

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