How Pfizer is Making Vaccine Production Sustainable

Reports from the National Center of Biotechnology says that climate change is altering environmental conditions, which impacts the effectiveness of vaccines, meaning the progression and work in the field is crucial for human health. 

Pfizer has secured itself 12th place in the Sustainability Magazine Top 250 ranking of the most sustainable companies. 

The biopharmaceutical company is best known for the development of the COVID-19 vaccine, but also manufactures 150 medicines and vaccines that aim to improve human health.

What are Pfizer's climate ambitions?

Pfizer has several commitments it is working towards including:

• Driving down GHG emissions by following targets that align with the Paris Agreement throughout the value chain 
• Improve transparency through reporting on progress, risks and opportunities within the Climate-related Financial Disclosures
• Encourage the reduction of GHG within global trade associations 

The company says it was one of the first to receive validation from the Science Based Target Initiative in 2015, but has been working on reductions for several years prior. 

Between 2001 and 2020 the company reports to have reduced more than 60% of its GHG emissions. 

By 2030 Pfizer says it wants to reduce its Scope 1 and 2 emissions company wide by 46%, a step towards its 95% goal in 2040. 

It says that Scope 3 emissions make up around 80% of its Greenhouse Gas footprint, by 2040 Pfizer says it wants to reduce these emissions by 90%.

Working towards this long term goal, by the end of 2025 the business aims to have 64% of its goods and services suppliers set science based GHG reduction targets.

Louise Proud, Vice President, Global Environment, Health & Safety at Pfizer says: “As a science guided organisation, Pfizer takes a proactive approach on our environmental initiatives. 

“Over the past 20 years, we’ve taken significant voluntary steps to reduce our environmental impact. In that time, we’ve reduced greenhouse gas emissions from our operations by more than 60%.

“We made this progress because we take a holistic approach to meet our environmental goals, harnessing the collective and deliberate efforts of our global network of dedicated colleagues.”

How is Pfizer making medicine more sustainable?

The brand has released several initiatives to improve its sustainability within medicine.

In 2020 Pfizer launched a US$1.25bn Sustainability Bond that was used to support the management of the company’s environmental impact, strengthen healthcare systems and improve social impact.

Also in 2021 the company released a US$1bn bond that was used to fund the Covid-19 vaccine. 

Pfizer says it is working towards implementing a circular economy for its products and using green chemistry/biotechnology principles throughout the process lifecycles.

To improve the company's waste management it is looking into ways to reuse, recover or recycle solvents, alongside supporting waste reduction and recycling efforts across its entire supply chain. 

It is also working on improving water stewardship by implementing strategies and responsibly managing the water discharges from the manufacturing process.

Pfizer has also implemented the use of an internal life cycle assessment tool that calculates the potential environmental impact of packaging designs. 

The business is aiming to reduce the impact its operation has on the pollution of water, this means monitoring proper disposal of medicines and manufacturing wastewater discharges.

Diversity and inclusion within Pfizer’s operations

Pfizer says that its Diversity and Inclusion strategy is based on merit, allowing employees to access success through hard work and talent.

To support this mission Pfizer pioneers the Colleague Resource Group, which supports employees to collaborate and foster awareness and inclusion within the workplace.

The company also provides assistive technology for colleagues with disabilities such as the personalisation of setup screen readers, screen magnification, text to speech, captions, dictation, voice enhancement and foot pedals. 

Albert Bourla, CEO at Pfizer says: “Pfizer is all in on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), I will remain steadfast in our commitment to building an equitable and inclusive experience for our patients, colleagues and society at large."