Between 2% and 8% of greenhouse gas emissions are generated by the healthcare sector, depending on the country1. In France, the sector accounts for around 8% of national emissions, 29% of which are linked to the purchase of medicinal products2. With environmental deterioration—pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss—threatening our health, the pharmaceutical industry can make a difference at every stage of a medicine’s life cycle. Soraya Ramoul Blegvad, Chief Sustainability Officer at Servier, shares how Servier is taking action to address the environmental challenges it faces.
Soraya, what makes reducing the environmental footprint such a major challenge for the pharmaceutical sector?
It is now widely recognized that there is a link between the state of the environment and public health. Environmental deterioration caused by human activity is believed to be responsible for 12.6 million deaths worldwide3.
The challenge for our industry lies in the complex task of striking a balance between two objectives that, at first glance, seem to be at odds with each other. On the one hand, as demand for treatments continues to grow, particularly due to ageing populations, we need to treat an ever-increasing number of patients, which means using more resources. On the other hand, we must adopt a more sustainable approach to reduce our ecological footprint. This dual imperative is now shared by all companies that, like Servier, are committed to a growth trajectory focused on patient care, while acknowledging the environmental effort required to ensure the resilience of our operations and protect global health.
As a pharmaceutical company, it is our mission to preserve human health, and we take this to heart in everything we do.
What strategy has Servier put in place to reduce the environmental impact of its operations?
The Servier Climate Commitment program sets out a series of ambitious goals aligned with the Paris Agreement. We aim to reduce our CO₂ emissions by 42% for Scopes 1 and 2 and by 25% for Scope 3 by 2030 compared to 2021-2022. To achieve this, we are focusing on four key areas: energy, procurement of goods and services, transportation and distribution of our medicines, and employee travel.
To reduce our direct Scope 1 and 2 emissions, which account for 6% of the Group’s carbon footprint, we are:
Scope 3 emissions, which are not directly linked to the manufacture of our products but to other stages of their life cycle, account for 94% of our carbon footprint. To reduce them, we are:
Concurrently, we consider eco-design to be a key driver for reducing our environmental impact and complying with therapeutic efficacy and safety requirements throughout the entire drug value chain. Our EcoDesign by Servier program integrates various initiatives involving green chemistry, recycling, and packaging optimization, from research and development to the end of life of our medicines. As part of this program, our internal Green Score tool measures the environmental impact of the chemical synthesis of our medicines to guide our choices toward lower-emission solutions.
What progress has already been made in terms of ecological transition and what challenges lie ahead?
In 2023-2024, we reduced our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 14% and are on track to achieve our goal of reducing them by 16% in 2024-2025.
However, as we increase our production of medicines to meet growing demand, our Scope 3 emissions also increase. This is where our main challenge lies. It is a matter of encouraging our suppliers to reduce their own environmental impact, over which we do not have complete control, making it all the more complex. Our role is therefore to encourage rather than impose, and to transform what is perceived as a constraint into an opportunity. We believe that our suppliers are more likely to adopt sustainable practices if we can show them how doing so can help strengthen their resilience and competitiveness, particularly by reducing certain costs, enhancing their image, and opening up new business opportunities.
Furthermore, another issue for Servier is to clarify our greenhouse gas emissions reduction plan so that every employee has a clear understanding of the actions they can take and their contribution to the collective effort. We will have a greater impact if our commitment is accompanied by closer coordination between business lines, fostering effective collaboration and the sharing of best practices, so the benefits are not limited to certain areas but spread throughout the entire Group. We must prioritize actions that have the greatest impact and focus our efforts accordingly, without compromising patient safety, which remains our top priority. It is also essential to tailor our approach to the specific characteristics of each of our sites, as needs and resources can vary from one site to another.
[1] https://healthcareclimateaction.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/French_HealthCaresClimateFootprint_091619_web.pdf, consulted on 19 May 2025
[2] Décarboner la santé pour soigner durablement, The Shift Project, avril 2023
[3] Unleash AI’s potential. Measuring the return from « L’insalubrité de l’environnement provoque 12,6 millions de décès par an », Organisation mondiale de la Santé, mars 2016