General information
Sustainability examples from Evonik Health Care
Sustainability at Evonik Health Care
Leading beyond to improve life today and tomorrow
Sustainability is fully integrated into Evonik’s corporate strategy and is an integral part of our purpose – to improve life, today and tomorrow. We have identified three major strategic levers that help us to deliver on our ambitious sustainability goals.
These levers are the basis for Next Generation Evonik:
Optimization of production processes and infrastructure to avoid greenhouse gas emissions
Products with superior sustainability benefits
A shift in mindset, creating positive narratives and fostering diversity
Sustainability drives us
To measure our progress, we align Evonik’s three levers above with the aspects of sustainability that are important to our business:
- The ecological footprint is an accounting tool that measures the demand on and supply of nature: how fast we consume resources and generate emissions and waste. It was conceived by two researchers at the University of British Columbia in 1990 and started a broader footprint movement, including the carbon footprint.
- The ecological handprint refers to the positive impact a business or organization can have on ecological and socio-economical sustainability.
- The heartprint describes the transformative impact towards greater sustainability. Through the heartprint, an organization, society or group creates a sustainable mindset and inspires sustainable action by developing positive narratives and setting attractive incentives.
Sustainability at Evonik Health Care
Sustainability is the guiding business principle for Evonik’s life sciences division, Nutrition & Care. Our solutions help to combat climate change, drive circularity, safeguard ecosystems and ensure health and well-being.
At Evonik Health Care, we support our customers to develop effective medication and treatments for a healthy life, while minimizing negative environmental impacts.
Sustainability drives us towards a future shaped by advanced biosolutions. Inspired by innovation, more than 70 percent of our portfolio will be next-generation solutions by 2030 – providing value to partners and enhancing patient outcomes.
We deliver high-quality health solutions using renewable energy and feedstocks, we smartly recycle materials, and we are committed to being climate neutral in Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030.
We are embedding sustainability into every aspect of our business, fostering collaboration with customers, partners and between employees – creating system solutions that meet the complex challenges of the industry, while enhancing life and protecting our planet.
Layers of responsibility
At Evonik Health Care, we work with several different parameters and categories that help us take a holistic approach to sustainability. We have organized our examples into the matrix below using the three main strands of sustainability: Economy, Environment and Society.
Click on each example to find out more on the respective page on our website. You can also download the corresponding onepagers for more information about each example in the download section at the top of this page.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
The terms "carbon neutral" and "climate neutral" are often used interchangeably, but they can have different connotations. "Carbon neutral" refers to the condition where activities, processes, or products result in no net release of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. This can be achieved by balancing emitted CO2 with an equivalent amount of CO2 being offset, or by eliminating emissions altogether through various means such as renewable energy sources.
On the other hand, "climate neutral" is a broader term that implies a product or activity does not affect the climate adversely. Strictly speaking, this encompasses not only greenhouse gases like CO2 but all human actions that have an impact on the climate.
Next Generation Solutions at Evonik are characterized by their distinct sustainability profiles, which contribute significantly to the company’s sustainability goals and growth.
One Next Generation Solution mentioned in the matrix above is PhytoSquene® - the plant-based squalene available for pharmaceutical applications. Another solution is PhytoChol®, which is a plant-derived cholesterol suitable for use in cell culture media, or lipid nanoparticles used in mRNA and gene delivery.
Our goal is for our Health Care portfolio to be made up of more than 70 percent Next Generation Solutions by 2030.
Scope 1 emissions refer to direct greenhouse gas emissions from a company's own plants, which include energy and process emissions directly generated by the company’s activities.
Scope 2 emissions are those that come from purchased energy, such as emissions from the production of electricity, steam and heat that is bought and consumed by the company.
These categories are part of a standardized approach to categorize and report greenhouse gas emissions by organizations, helping to provide clarity and consistency in reporting environmental impact.
Evonik is deeply committed to sustainability and has set clear targets to enhance its environmental performance, as evidenced by its various sustainability reports and commitments. These goals are linked to global efforts such as the Paris Climate Agreement and the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Our highly transparent Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions targets have been verified by SBTi and we also have waste and water targets in place.
Not meeting these targets could have impacts on the reputation of Evonik including its market competitiveness, but it would also have broader implications for the global community’s efforts to combat climate change and preserve biodiversity.
We use the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a guideline for our business. There are three SDGs that are specifically relevant for the healthcare sector and pharmaceutical industry:
Positive influence of medicines
- Fostering the health of people by access to medicines
- Fostering the well-being of employees by occupational health protection
Consumption of resources and energy for manufacturing
- Balance growth with sustainability while advancing people’s health
- Utilize metrics, science, and technology to address environmental impact
Carbon emissions from production
- Aggressive global push for net neutrality
- Many industry corporate goals in the pharmaceutical industry include carbon neutrality by 2030
Evonik ensures the sustainability of its value chain through a comprehensive approach that includes close dialogue with stakeholders, lifecycle analyses, and a rigorous validation process for suppliers, including independent audits. Evonik is a founding member of the initiative “Together for Sustainability” (TfS) which is an industry-led initiative driven by chemical procurement specialists, dedicated to building sustainable chemical supply chains. The company's annual Product Sustainability Analysis (PSA) covers the entire value chain, from the raw materials in the supply chain through production to subsequent use, ensuring that sustainability aspects are integrated along the entire value chain.
Additionally, Evonik's procurement organization maintains ongoing contact with suppliers and has established a whistleblower hotline for suppliers to report any issues or problems. This allows for prompt examination and appropriate action, ensuring that suppliers adhere to Evonik's principles and act responsibly towards employees, business partners, society, and the environment. The company's code of conduct for suppliers underpins the validation process for every new supply relationship, ensuring that suppliers share Evonik's principles.
