Alliance to Zero: Teaming up to Achieve a Sustainable Pharma Supply Chain
SCHREINER MEDIPHARM
Alliance to Zero:
Teaming up to Achieve a Sustainable Pharma Supply Chain
Increasing forest fires, flooding, and other extreme weather phenomena dramatically highlight the importance of rigorous environmental thinking in the spirit of the Paris Climate Agreement. Sustainability is a topic of growing importance in the pharmaceutical industry as well. In June 2021, eight companies along the pharmaceutical supply chain joined forces and founded the Alliance to Zero. As an expert in pharmaceutical specialty labels, Schreiner MediPharm is one of the founding members. The non-profit alliance aims to support companies in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors in order to facilitate their transition to net-zero emissions in accordance with the goal of the Paris Agreement.
The founding members of the Alliance to Zero regard their collaboration along the supply chain for pharmaceutical products as an important step in driving fundamental change to improve the climate footprint. The close and proactive collaboration across traditional company boundaries enables the development of widely accepted solutions that have a positive impact on the pharmaceutical industry. Each of the partners contributes their individual knowhow to optimally concentrate the available areas of expertise.
In addition to Schreiner MediPharm, the founding companies of the Alliance represent other important players in the pharmaceutical and biotech value chain: Dätwyler, Harro Höfliger, HealthBeacon, Körber Pharma, SCHOTT, Sharp, and Ypsomed. They encompass component suppliers, machine manufacturers and assembly/manufacturing service providers, manufacturers of primary and secondary packaging, and companies that are responsible for final assembly of the products, or that handle products that have been returned after use.
The Alliance has already developed a roadmap of what a net-zero emissions concept for pharmaceutical production and the supply chain should look like. To support it, the Alliance is developing necessary steps and defining a harmonized language for evaluating and monitoring the entire emissions footprint of the pharmaceutical end products. In addition, it is planning to collaborate with academic and non-profit organizations pursuing similar goals.
Dr. Thomas Schweizer, President of Schreiner MediPharm, emphasizes the importance of the company’s membership in the Alliance: “For Schreiner MediPharm, as a pioneer in the production of innovative functional labels, sustainability starts as early as in product development that considers all lifecycles in order to achieve a reduced environmental footprint. For us, co-founding the Alliance to Zero means another important step toward holistic sustainability. We are convinced that, together with the other alliance partners, we will be able to drive the development of net-zero pharmaceutical products.”
The Alliance to Zero pursues the goal of launching net-zero pharmaceutical products in regulated markets by 2030 at the latest. To achieve this goal, the founding members of the Alliance have committed to developing a joint net-zero offering by 2026 so that pharmaceutical companies will have enough time to finish the total product on this basis.
Further information about Alliance to Zero can be found at www.alliancetozero.com
What does net-zero emissions mean?
Net-zero means that all greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans are removed from the atmosphere by means of systematic reduction measures so that, after deducting natural and artificial greenhouse gas sinks, the net climate footprint of the Earth is zero.
