Supporting the Era of Green Pharmaceuticals in the UK

The aim of this report is to inform the design of policies from the UK Government and the NHS to accelerate sustainability in the pharmaceutical industry, with a focus on carbon reduction. [...] However, sources of emissions vary across products • According to industry experts, scope 3 emissions, which are outside of the direct control of the company, account for 70-90% of the total carbon footprint of pharmaceutical companies The contribution of healthcare to the UK’s total carbon footprint is likely to fall within the range of 4.4- 10%. [...] This means that the contribution of a given product to the NHS’s total footprint is essentially the product of the NHS’s expenditure on the medicine and the relevant carbon emission intensity factor. [...] OTHER EVIDENCE ON THE CONTRIBUTION OF PHARMACEUTICALS TO NHS CARBON FOOTPRINT The NHS has published estimates of the contribution of pharmaceuticals to the total carbon footprint of the NHS in the past. [...] Figure 5 illustrates the main steps in the lifecycle of a pharmaceutical product, from research and development (R&D) to the end of a product’s life, including estimates of the contributions of each set of stages to the medicine’s total carbon footprint.