Ambition Zero Carbon
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What is Ambition Zero Carbon?
We are taking bold action on climate because we recognise the connection between healthy people and a healthy planet.
Through our flagship $1 billion Ambition Zero Carbon programme and $400 million commitment to our AZ Forest programme we aim to:
- Achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by maximising our energy efficiency, shifting to renewable energy sources, and investing in nature-based removals to compensate for any residual GHG footprint
- Build resilience by managing the physical (sites, supply chain) and transitional (regulatory, market and product) risks and opportunities arising from climate change in the value chain through adaptation and business continuity planning
Our science-based approach
We follow the science and focus our activities on delivering absolute reductions in all our direct and indirect GHG emissions sources across the value chain – Scopes 1, 2 and 3.
- Decoupling our energy consumption from business growth — achieving absolute reductions in total energy consumed and doubling energy productivity from 2015 baseline (EP100), through continued investment from the Natural Resources Efficiency Fund (see below)
- Substituting 100% of site energy consumption with renewables (RE100) and maximising the share of additional sources of renewable electricity, for instance through on-site solar PV and off-site power purchase agreements (PPAs)
- Transitioning 100% of self-generated and imported heating and cooling to renewables, maximising the share of additional sources of clean heating and cooling, for instance on-site technology and new off-site biomethane production
- Reducing the emissions of our legacy fleet and transitioning to electric vehicles (EV100)
- Transitioning to our next-generation respiratory inhalers with near-zero climate impact propellants
- Engaging with our suppliers to reduce emissions in line with the science of climate change
- Assessing and mitigating the physical and transitional risks to our business caused by climate change, integrate these risks into overall risk management processes and report on them through our TCFD report.
Through Ambition Zero Carbon, we are on track to reduce GHG emissions from our global operations (Scope 1 and 2) by 98% by 2026 from a 2015 baseline. We were one of the first seven companies to have our net-zero Scope 1-3 targets verified under the Science-Based Targets Initiative's Net-Zero Corporate Standard.
We were the first pharmaceutical company to sign up to all three of the following Climate Group initiatives: by the end of 2025 we will reduce absolute energy use and double energy productivity compared with 2015 (EP100); we will use 100% renewable energy for electricity (RE100) and heat; and we will maximise our transition to EVs in our road fleet (EV100).
We aim to halve our entire value chain footprint by 2030, on the way to a 90% reduction by 2045 from a 2019 baseline. By 2030 we will become carbon negative for all residual emissions.
We are engaging across our entire value chain to measure and reduce our Scope 3 emissions. We have set the goal that by the end of 2025, 95% of our spend in Scope 3 Categories 1 (purchased goods and services) and 2 (capital goods), and 50% of our spend in Scope 3 categories 4 (upstream transportation) and 6 (business travel) will be with companies that have science-based targets (SBTs).
We will launch our first next-generation respiratory inhalers with near-zero climate impact by 2025.
To address current supply, access and infrastructure constraints, in 2022 we have increased our focus on energy efficiency and on-site renewables, strengthened internal energy reduction targets and in 2022 invested $26.6 million through our Natural Resource Efficiency Fund together with other central capital investments.
See the Ambition Zero Carbon infographic for more details of our commitments
Our stories
Since 2015, we have invested $130M in natural resource efficiency and renewable energy at our sites through our dedicated fund. We will always need some energy and we are committed to using 100% renewable energy sources to meet all our needs by the end of 2025. In 2021, we initiated a programme of work to look at how we can maximise the positive impact of our renewable energy use, with a focus on adding new renewable energy sources to the locations that we operate in.