Climate change

- We continue to work hard to manage our impact without compromising our ability to deliver new medicines that make a difference in important areas of healthcare.
- We are also increasingly participating in the global debate on what business can do to help mitigate global warming and adapt to the unavoidable consequences of climate change.

We believe that our primary responsibility is to reduce our carbon footprint by, amongst other things, improving our own and, where practical, our supply partners’ energy efficiency; and by pursuing lower-carbon alternatives to fossil fuels. We will consider the use of carbon offset or other third party reduction credits to address residual emissions, although not as an alternative to our efforts to reduce our own emissions.

Our carbon footprint is also affected by some of our respiratory therapies, specifically our pressurised metered dose inhalers that rely on propellants such as hydrofluoroalkanes to deliver the medicine to the patients’ airways. These are also greenhouse gases but we believe that the expanded treatment choice and potential benefits that these products offer patients outweigh the potential impact on the environment.

We recognise that climate change is not just an environmental issue, but also one that affects the health and livelihood of millions of people because of the links to complex issues such as poverty, economic development and population growth. We believe that the most effective response to the challenges associated with climate change can only be achieved through a united global effort.

Climate change is one aspect of sustainability and it is not sufficient to deal with climate risks in isolation. The climate issue must be framed in the wider context, including issues of material efficiency; availability of safe, clean water; reducing travel and transport; supply chain accountability; healthcare innovation; and infrastructure improvement. Our business is in fighting disease and some of our work relates to these emerging needs, including; further developing our respiratory therapy product portfolio for the effective treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; committing resource to the discovery and development of new treatments for tuberculosis; and working with non governmental organisations and other partners to help local communities in the developing world to strengthen their healthcare capabilities.

Read more about the issues presented by climate change, our approach to managing these and our performance to date.