
Protecting the Environment
The connection between the health of our planet and that of people is increasingly clear. Climate change and human-induced environmental challenges (water, soil & air pollution) are one of the main threats to health worldwide, leading to the exacerbation of diseases, such as respiratory conditions, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and infectious diseases.
As a global healthcare leader, our mission at Sanofi extends beyond developing life-changing medicines and vaccines: it encompasses our contribution to the environment and society. Our ambition is to tackle the impact of environmental challenges on the health of populations and healthcare systems, and we are bridging our key sustainability efforts together to focus on improving equitable access to healthcare, reducing the environmental impact of our activities, and transforming the delivery of care to reduce health systems’ environmental footprint.
Through Planet Care, we have charted a clear path forward anchored in innovative actions and measurable goals to not only minimize the environmental impact of our products and activities, but to also adapt our business to the complex climate and nature-related challenges that we face.
With purpose and determination, we are driving a meaningful change that embeds environmental sustainability & adaptation in our day-to-day operations and across our value chain, aiming at:
- Fighting Climate Change: Towards Net Zero in 2045.
- Limiting our impact on Nature: Championing Sustainable Resources Use and Circularity.
- Innovating with Purpose: Environmental Sustainability by Design for our medicines & vaccines through Eco-design.
- Adapting our business and value chain to complex environmental challenges.
- Collaborating for Greater Impact: Uniting People and Partners for the Planet.
How we Maximize Opportunities
- By aligning decisions with the environmental expectations of the world’s patients, our employees and stakeholders, including investors and governments.
- By fighting Climate Change: We play our part in mitigating climate change, we target to achieve Net Zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2045 with a trajectory towards carbon neutrality by 2030. Our ambitious reduction trajectory is validated by the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi).
- By limiting our impact on Nature: We have adopted a proactive approach to minimize the potential impacts on ecosystems of pharmaceuticals in the environment. We strive to optimize and turn waste into resources, thinking of water as a valuable local resource, and preserving biodiversity through global and local actions. We commit to sourcing priority raw materials from deforestation-free sources. We also set a circular economy ambition that places waste reduction and circularity at its heart such as take-back programs of pen injectors in some geographies. We conduct systematic environmental studies at our sites to evaluate and address potential impacts on soil & groundwater.
- By innovating with purpose: We embed Environmental Sustainability by Design for our medicines & vaccines through Eco-design at every stage of product life cycle. Enriching both our climate & nature ambitions, our Eco-design approach is progressively becoming systemic in our activities.
- By adapting our business and value chain to complex environmental challenges, based on prospective modelling and regular financial impacts assessment, we have prioritized our focus and efforts towards the most material issues.
- By collaborating for Greater Impact: We unite People and Partners for the Planet, to take meaningful actions in a way that creates a positive ripple effect throughout communities, and we join forces with external partners (e.g. Sustainable Markets Initiative, PSCI).
- By playing a key role in lowering the healthcare industry impact on the environment and anticipating climate and environment related health issues, such as respiratory diseases, cardiovascular and diabetes and evolution of vector-borne diseases, especially for the most vulnerable populations.
How we Minimize Risks
- We prioritize environmentally conscious decision-making at all levels of the organization and incentivize behavior consciously choosing to protect the environment.
- We prevent risks to the environment through the implementation of environmental policies and practices that reflect our commitments for the planet.
- We reduce reputational risk and loss of stakeholder confidence by transparently disclosing externally our performance and progress toward our objectives.
- We prioritize environmental protection in the selection of our business partners.
- We ask our suppliers to endorse our supplier code of conduct and provide them ESG environmental guidance to ensure they operate their sites and activities in an environmentally responsible and efficient manner to minimize adverse impact on the environment (available in Sanofi Supplier Code of Conduct).
- We assess environmental challenges on our operations and value chain to develop robust adaptation strategies.