Managing energy and mitigating climate change
Novartis new solar generating system in Vacaville California.
Novartis is committed to using resources efficiently and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that affect the global climate. We recently established new targets on total GHG emissions for 2015 and 2020, which represent an absolute reduction of 15% by 2015 and of 20% by 2020, based on 2008 levels.
Novartis has a longstanding, comprehensive energy and climate program with a dual objective:
- Improve energy efficiency for all industrial and commercial operations and use renewable energy sources where available and feasible
- Develop carbon-offset projects
Reductions in GHG emissions also reflect increased use of renewable energy. Along with bio-fuels and organic-waste fuels, solar energy is being used at a number of Novartis Group company sites.
- In Vacaville, California, US, we operate a 1 megawatt solar panel array that meets 25% of the site's electricity needs.
- The Sandoz site in Unterach, Austria, runs a hydroelectric turbine, and produced 2,047GJ of electricity in 2011, covering nearly 6% of the site's electricity usage. Novartis also generates renewable energy from bio-fuels.
- As early as 2004, Sandoz India in Mahad was generating steam from bagasse, a renewable by-product from sugar cane. Today, the Mahad site covers more than 90% of its fuel needs from this renewable source.
- Since 2008, the Pharmaceuticals Division in Wehr, Germany, has covered 77% of its fuel needs for steam generation with wood chips replacing fossil natural gas.
Globally in 2011, Novartis Group companies used renewable energy, primarily replacing fossil sources, for 202TJ (up from 124TJ in 2008), accounting for 11 kilotons of Scope 1 GHG emissions.
Related links:
Read more about how we manage our GHG emissions (1.3 MB, page 23)
Learn about our ODS emissions performance and target (1.3 MB, page 29)
Learn about our VOC emissions performance and target (1.3 MB, page 31)
Learn about our inorganic air pollutants emissions performance and target (1.3 MB, page 34)
Learn about our emissions into water performance and target (1.3 MB, page 37)
