London, England: AstraZeneca and GSK, members of the Sustainable Markets Initiative, have partnered with Takeda and nine suppliers, including Lianhe Aigen, ICON, Porton Pharma Solutions, Aurisco, Charioteer and Asymchem, to collectively procure renewable power in China. This collaboration among 12 companies will unlock approximately 225 GWh of renewable electricity annually for the research, development and manufacture of medicines.

This joint decarbonization initiative builds on the success of the industry-first, multi-party agreement to access renewable power in China announced in January 2024. That agreement was convened through the Sustainable Markets Initiative and established by AstraZeneca, Lonza, Novartis, Novo Nordisk and Roche. The combination of the original programme from 2024 and this new agreement represents a doubling of impact by switching to renewable electricity sources. This is expected to save approximately 250,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) annually, comparable to taking 50,000 cars off the road [1].

The expanded programme marks the first time that companies from across the global healthcare value chain, including local suppliers, have come together in China to support decarbonization of healthcare manufacturing and follows extensive engagement with suppliers.

The expanded renewable energy supply in China will serve manufacturing sites in four additional provinces, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Tianjin, Zhejiang, building on the four provinces covered in Beijing, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Shanghai in the 2024 agreement. The electricity is provided through a mix of wind and solar energy.

The development, supply and delivery of medicines and related products is energy intensive, with the healthcare sector responsible for approximately 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Over half of these emissions originate in manufacturing supply chains including from Asian markets, especially in China and India given the high presence of pharmaceutical manufacturers in these countries. Collaboration with domestic and regional suppliers is therefore critical to decarbonize the health sector.

“We are thrilled to be co-leading this collaboration with the Sustainable Markets Initiative which aims to enable our suppliers to access renewable energy” said Lisa Martin, Chief Procurement Officer, GSK. “This deal demonstrates the power of partnerships in driving meaningful change, supporting business resilience, ensuring energy security and improving cost predictability in the long term.”

“The transition to net zero health systems requires collaboration at scale across the entire value chain,” said Tony Pusic, SVP Regional Supply, Asia Pacific, AstraZeneca. “AstraZeneca is delighted to see the platform we jointly established for the collective purchase of renewable power in China expand – now suppliers and industry partners can contribute to decarbonization in this major market for medicines R&D and manufacturing.”

“This collaboration has enabled us to explore renewable electricity supply options and actively engage in sustainability efforts. It has supported our decarbonization journey”. Aurisco executive

The Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Health Systems Task Force is committed to accelerating the transition to net zero health systems and is focused on decarbonizing supply chains, patient care pathways, clinical research as well as consumer health and wellbeing.

For related enquiries on initiatives being led by the Health Systems Task Force, or for interest to join the renewable power purchase agreements in Asia Pacific, please contact r.hegarty@sustainable-markets.org

View the full press release PDF here

1 Exact value of CO2e savings will depend on the mix of energy sources that the companies use; estimates developed using EPA emissions for travel modes found at https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-typical-passenger-vehicle