Novo Nordisk: Nature & Biodiversity in Pharmaceuticals

Nature brings at least US$1.25tn of business value every year according to the WWF, but many current business practices are harming it. 

Novo Nordisk, however, plans to make its nature impact positive by 2045 and halt the loss of nature in its value chain by 2033.

Known for its diabetes care pharmaceutical products and services, the company also aims to reach net zero emissions by 2045.

Novo Nordisk has been ranked 13th in Sustainability Magazine’s Top 250 World’s Most Sustainable Companies 2025. 

Novo Nordisk’s environmental impact

The company’s website says that much of its impact on land is driven by glucose in its production. 

Novo Nordisk will work with its suppliers to ensure that the wheat and maize used to produce its glucose comes from regenerative farms, its website says.

Water is also a key input for many commodities in Novo Nordisk’s supply chain and the company says some of its raw materials may contribute to water pollution through production and manufacturing processes. 

At its priority production sites, Novo Nordisk will implement water savings programmes and it aims to set a revised ambition for its water savings target in 2028.

“We have introduced comprehensive, updated roadmaps targeting reductions in our emissions, plastic footprint and impact on nature and biodiversity,” say Helge Lund, Chair of the Board of Directors and Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, Ex-President and Ex-CEO in Novo Nordisk’s 2024 annual report.

“Achieving these ambitions will be no small feat given the increasing global demand for our medicines, but we are rising to the challenge. 

“Our roadmaps include measures to decouple our environmental impact from our continued growth by incorporating the use of low-carbon materials across our value chain, supporting our suppliers through a transition to renewable energy and facilitating a switch from disposable to reusable injection devices for our medicines wherever possible.”

Biodiversity and Novo Nordisk

Some of Novo Nordisk’s sites are near priority biodiversity areas, so it has chosen seven as priority sites for action:

• Kalundborg, Denmark
• Hillerød, Denmark
• Tietgenbyen, Denmark
• Clayton, USA
• Durham, USA
• New Hampshire, USA
• Montes Claros, Brazil

Novo Nordisk’s website says that it aims to establish biodiversity positive sites including its future expansion projects. 

It is also considering its impact on endangered species.

The company explains on its website: “We also have some specific dependencies on individual species such as horseshoe crabs.”

Horseshoe crab blood can be used to test the sterility of drugs and medical devices through making amebocyte lysate (LAL).

Novo Nordisk will continue to work to phase out its reliance on products from endangered species, primarily horseshoe crabs as harvesting their blood can impact populations, the company’s website says.

It has already stopped the use of some endangered horseshoe crab species and it has a plan to phase out the use of other species subject to regulatory approval of alternatives.

Business growth and nature impacts

Novo Nordisk says on its website: “Reducing our pressure on nature, while also growing our business, will require innovation, long-term optimisations and external partners.”

The company wants to find new ways to produce its products and solutions that inspire others to transform their approaches.

These efforts focus on glucose.

It aims to optimise glucose use through innovations in fermentation processes in its production and find alternative sources of feedstock through the use of new technologies. 

Alternatives, it says on its website, will not only impact Novo Nordisk but the entire industry using glucose in its production process, so it is looking to explore alternatives in close collaboration with industry partners.