By 2020, all of Novo Nordisk’s pharmaceutical plants will be powered by energy from renewable sources.
In 2015, Novo Nordisk established a goal of obtaining 100% of the energy used by its drug manufacturing facilities from renewable sources. At the time, 78% of the electricity used by its plants was already generated from renewable sources.
Novo Nordisk recently announced that following signage of a deal with Swedish power company Vattenfall — and investment in a 672-acre solar panel installation in North Carolina that will provide solar power to its Clayton, North Carolina-based facility — the company believes it can reach its goal of 100% renewable power in production by early 2020.
Novo Nordisk says that with this achievement it will be the first of many drug manufacturers who are signed onto the RE100 climate initiative to reach this goal. AstraZeneca is also close in the U.S. and Europe, where its sites will use only renewable energy sources by next year and has a target date of 2025 for the remainder of its global operations. J&J is aiming for 100% renewable power by 2050. Biogen has taken a different tactic by purchasing renewable energy certificates that equal all of its electricity use.
Other drug companies that didn’t sign on to the RE100 initiative are also working towards 100% renewable energy. GlaxoSmithKline plans to increase renewable energy use from its current level of 5% to 60% by 2030, while Merck & Co. aims to achieve a 50% level by 2025.
Meanwhile, Novo Nordisk’s next goal is to achieve zero CO2 emissions by 2030 across its operations and transportation activities, the latter of which contributes over 40% of total emissions.