AstraZeneca anticipates 98% greenhouse gas reduction by 2026 with latest deal

AstraZeneca is pushing its greenhouse gas emissions goals forward, teaming up with a provider of renewable natural gas created from animal and food waste for all its US sites.

The deal with Vanguard Renewables keeps AZ on track to reduce its emissions by 98% by 2026 in the US as part of its Ambition Zero Carbon program. The reductions are across what it calls Scope One, which means emissions from AZ-owned or controlled sources, and Scope Two, which refers to indirect greenhouse gas emissions when purchased energy such as electricity and gas is used.

Joris Silon

“To get to that goal, we needed to do something big and bold, and this is our big and bold step to get us there,” said Joris Silon, president of AstraZeneca’s US biopharmaceutical business unit.

AZ is also working to tackle Scope Three emissions, which are those not under its control but that come from outside suppliers, vendors or customers, with a target date of 2045 for carbon neutrality across its value chain, he said.

Vanguard’s renewable fuel is created through an anaerobic process that combines food waste and cattle manure to create biomethane, which can be sent through existing natural gas pipelines to AstraZeneca research and manufacturing facilities for energy use.

The system has several advantages, Silon said, including collecting and reusing the methane-producing manure, recycling food waste and giving farmers an additional source of income.

The first AZ site to convert to the renewable biogas will be Newark, Delaware, in June. AZ will then gradually switch over to the new energy source across its eight US manufacturing plants and research sites in the following weeks. By 2026, AZ estimates its biogas use will total more than 190,000 megawatt hours annually, or the equivalent of the amount of energy it takes to heat 17,800 US homes for one year.

The US healthcare industry is responsible for about 8% of carbon dioxide emissions in the US, and while the bulk of that is hospitals, the entire value chain should work to take responsibility, Silon said.

“As a company, we follow the science, and we are also following the science here,” Silon said. “That’s why we are ambitious on zero carbon and why we want to be a leading force of change and hopefully cause some ripple effects in the healthcare industry, and get people excited to follow suit.”

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