Cradle to Gate

Greenhouse Gas Accounting Sector Guidance for Pharmaceutical Products and Medical Devices 

A consortium of major global companies has been working with the NHS SDU to agree standards for reporting of carbon equivalents emissions for the manufacture of drugs and medical devices. The report was launched on Friday 30th Nov 2012 at St Thomas’ Hospital in London and is a real achievement, albeit only the beginning of a lot more work. The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare was one of the groups consulted on the draft and we will continue to support suppliers to engage actively with this important work. 

Pharmaceuticals and medical devices contribute a significant proportion of healthcare associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This report provides the first industry specific guidance for the uniform greenhouse gas accounting and reporting (“carbon footprinting”) of this sector. To read the summary of the report click here.

The official line is that the metrics agreed will not provide data that should be used for comparison between companies, but rather that they have been developed to enable organisations to refine their own product lines using environmental criteria alongside the usual efficacy and cost issues. However, those on the purchasing side want to be able to use sustainability metrics for comparison in their procurement decisions – and we hope that the consortium will continue their work to make this easier in the future.