Teva Sets Ambitious Long-Term Environmental Goals As Part of Renewed ESG Strategy
January 12, 2021 /3BL Media/ - Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE and TASE: TEVA) has announced long-term environmental sustainability commitments and targets to provide direction and drive action in this area. Our new goals are part of Teva’s commitment to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) measurement, a key focus area for the business. ESG details how we achieve our business goals, underscores non-financial performance, and is considered critical to our long-term sustainability and success.
These environmental sustainability commitments are aligned to three areas of focus that were identified during the company’s recently completed ESG materiality analysis, which informed the development of our renewed strategy:
- Climate Action and Resilience
- Responsible Use of Natural Resources
- Emissions, Effluents and Waste
Specifically, the company has committed by 2030 to:
- Reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 33% versus 2017 levels to support efforts to limit the global temperature increase to well below 2°C, aligning with the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.
- Improve transparency of Scope 3 GHG emissions and increase engagement on climate issues with key suppliers throughout the value chain.
- Increase energy efficiency by 10% and the total proportion of energy purchased or generated from renewable sources to 50%.
- Reduce total water withdrawal by 10% in areas projected to be in water stress.
- Assess and mitigate the environmental impact of pharmaceutical ingredients used in operations.
- Reduce the overall mass of secondary and tertiary packaging materials per unit dose and increase the proportion of recycled and responsibly-sourced materials by 10%.
- Assess the environmental lifecycle impact of key products.
- Continue to minimize waste generated from operations and the environmental impact of its disposal.
- Meet existing AMR Industry Alliance commitments to minimize antimicrobial discharges from the supply chain.
Eric Drape, Executive Vice President, Global Operations at Teva, said the targets are challenging but achievable, particularly given the size and complexity of Teva’s global operations.
“With over 60 manufacturing sites across many countries, we realize the meaningful impact we can have on the planet,” Mr. Drape said. “But we are – and want to remain – a leader in our industry in terms of environmental performance. We continue to monitor our progress and periodically re-evaluate our targets in order to continue to challenge ourselves.”
Industry approved standards
The company’s science-based target to reduce GHG emissions has been established to provide a level of decarbonization required to keep the global temperature increase to well below 2°C. This is compared to pre-industrial temperatures, as described in the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Teva is also enhancing its disclosures by aligning reporting with robust international standards, including Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
Leading the way
Teva’s current environmental performance has been recognised by a number of external benchmarks:
- Sustainalytics ranked Teva in the top 10% of pharmaceutical companies and named the organization as an “outperformer for environmental performance”.
- Our Dow Jones Sustainability Index performance improved from the 55th to 70th percentile in our industry over the last year.
- Our CDP climate change score improved from a B to an A- in the last year, ranking Teva in the top 38% of companies.
- We received a silver medal from EcoVadis, representing the top 23% of pharmaceutical companies in 2020.
New goals for a new era
The new measures replace targets that were set in 2014 and retired in 2019 after they were either achieved or were no longer applicable, as a result of the integration of Actavis Generics operations into the wider business.
The 2030 timeline will help us align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 17 goals set by the UN in 2015 aim to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure all people enjoy peace, prosperity and health, as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Our new goals are part of Teva’s commitment to ESG and builds off our ongoing commitment to helping achieve the SDGs. Our business is inherently tied to ESG and reinforces our mission to be a global leader in generics and biopharmaceuticals, improving the lives of patients.
We are in the process of developing long-term commitments under the ‘Social’ and ‘Governance’ pillars that focus on expanding access to medicines to patients with unmet needs, ensuring that inclusion and diversity are embedded into our company’s culture and operations, and that ethics and compliance remain the touchstone for how we make business decisions and how we lead.
About Teva
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE and TASE: TEVA) has been developing and producing medicines to improve people’s lives for more than a century. We are a global leader in generic and specialty medicines with a portfolio consisting of over 3,500 products in nearly every therapeutic area. Around 200 million people around the world take a Teva medicine every day and are served by one of the largest and most complex supply chains in the pharmaceutical industry. Along with our established presence in generics, we have significant innovative research and operations supporting our growing portfolio of specialty and biopharmaceutical products. Learn more at www.tevapharm.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding Teva’s environmental goals, which are based on management’s current beliefs and expectations and are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, that could cause our future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from that expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include risks relating to:
- our ability to impact and effectively execute on our social, economic, environment and governance related strategy and goals;
- our ability to successfully compete in the marketplace; delays in launches of new products and our ability to achieve expected results from investments in our product pipeline; the effectiveness of our patents and other measures to protect our intellectual property rights; our substantial indebtedness, which may limit our ability to incur additional indebtedness, engage in additional transactions or make new investments; our business and operations in general, including: uncertainty regarding the magnitude, duration, and geographic reach of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on our business, financial condition, operations, cash flows, and liquidity and on the economy in general; our ability to successfully execute and maintain the activities and efforts related to the measures we have taken or may take in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated costs therewith; effectiveness of our restructuring plan announced in December 2017; our ability to attract, hire and retain highly skilled personnel; our ability to develop and commercialize additional pharmaceutical products; compliance with anti-corruption sanctions and trade control laws; manufacturing or quality control problems; interruptions in our supply chain, including due to potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operations and business in geographic locations impacted by the pandemic and on the business operations of our suppliers; disruptions of information technology systems; breaches of our data security; variations in intellectual property laws; challenges associated with conducting business globally, including adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, political or economic instability, major hostilities or terrorism; significant sales to a limited number of customers; compliance, regulatory and litigation matters, including: our ability to successfully defend against the U.S. Department of Justice criminal charges of Sherman Act violations; increased legal and regulatory action in connection with public concern over the abuse of opioid medications in the U.S. and our ability to reach a final resolution of the remaining opioid-related litigation; costs and delays resulting from the extensive governmental regulation to which we are subject or delays in governmental processing time due to modified government operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including effects on product and patent approvals due to the COVID-19 pandemic; the effects of reforms in healthcare regulation and reductions in pharmaceutical pricing, reimbursement and coverage; governmental investigations into S&M practices; potential liability for patent infringement; product liability claims; increased government scrutiny of our patent settlement agreements; failure to comply with complex Medicare and Medicaid reporting and payment obligations; environmental risks and other financial and economic risks; and other factors discussed in this press release, in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the first, second and third quarters of 2020 and in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, including in the sections captioned "Risk Factors” and “Forward Looking Statements.” Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and we assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements or other information contained herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You are cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.
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