What should the life sciences industry be doing about sustainability?

Helen Dent, COO, BIVDA, considers what companies within the life sciences industry can do to achieve sustainability goals.

Have you, or your business thought about sustainability beyond being carbon neutral? As an industry it is time there was a concerted team effort placed on becoming more environmentally friendly across all aspects of our work.

The NHS aims to be carbon neutral by 2040 on the emissions it controls directly and has set a target of 2045 to be neutral on the emissions it influences. This is an important goal with very real benefits to society, but there is much more that can be done across the industry.

The life sciences industry leads the way in healthcare. We spot trends, diagnose serious conditions, and then monitor those patients for life. It wouldn’t be too hyperbolic to say diagnostics is the first line of defence for serious medical conditions. Now, the onus is also on us to take action and start operating in a more sustainable way.

Avoiding a supply chain collapse 

So, where do we start? As previously mentioned, the NHS has set a goal of 2045 to be carbon neutral on all of its emissions, directly and influenced. This ambitious and challenging target is the right thing to do, but goals like this aren’t the most helpful. Being sustainable cannot happen overnight. Looking in retrospect to what should have been done and hasn’t been achieved doesn’t change this – even if we all wish it could – and carbon neutrality isn’t the only necessary change.

The first step is creating a cross industry drive to be sustainable. We can’t have a system where one entity is a champion of sustainability setting its own deadlines and expecting everyone else to fall in line. The NHS carbon neutral target is important, but it doesn’t solve every issue facing the environment right now. It also doesn’t consider the capability of the industry as a whole, or the demand from consumers to which the industry has to respond.

A combined approach involving the government, the NHS and the entire life sciences industry, all the way through to the smallest supplier and contractor, is the best way for everyone to truly come together more sustainably. Without clearly defined goals that have been decided on and signed up to as a collective, there is a danger of serious disruption in the supply chain as individual companies charge headfirst into decisions without aligning with the rest of the sector. To deliver a sustainable future, companies need to be sustainable long term.

By not setting sector specific goals we risk smaller businesses being left behind and companies looking for quick wins rather than getting to the root of problem. There are also those who are leading in many aspects of sustainability being penalised due to narrow goals that they may not have the capacity to achieve in the timescales set. We can’t have just a single sustainability champion, we as a collective need to champion sustainability. We all need to be leaders.

A new approach

The life sciences industry strives to innovate every day, finding ways to identify and diagnose some of the world’s deadliest diseases and health conditions. Innovation is core to our day-to-day activities, and we need to apply that same creativity and drive to working more sustainably. 

Working to be carbon neutral is one way we can achieve this dream of sustainability; we can do more than just responding to a number. Not only should we, as an industry, be leading the way in bringing that 2045 goal much closer, but we should also be looking beyond carbon neutrality for other aspects of the way we work.

A total ground up rethinking of the way we all operate is step two. This is not going to be easy but, if achieved, it will have the most significant impact when it comes to working more sustainably.

This means we have to really look at the way we work on a granular level and ask ourselves a lot of difficult questions: Do we need single use components for everything? What do we do about plastic composition and products? Where is our waste going and can we include waste as part of our controlled supply chain?

A great example of this is our use of chemicals and natural resources in the med-tech space. As we start to realise the environmental impact of certain chemicals’ use of natural resources, and restrict their use, we can’t simply replace them with something different and repeat the cycle. Instead, we need to set a time frame in which we can phase in alternatives that have a smaller environmental impact. This isn’t a quick win but for an industry that breaks barriers every day and creates life-saving solutions, it is achievable with the right approach.

Finally, as we develop new diagnostic kits we need to be thinking about the way they travel, how they’re used, and where they end up. We aim to streamline the testing process as much as possible by delivering quicker and more accurate results with every new product launch, but that same streamline mentality needs to be applied to sustainability. How can we improve patient safety and testing accuracy while creating a circular economy and reducing waste? Our highly regulated industry needs to be viewed holistically, not in silos.

The right thing is never easy

It’s no secret that this is going to take a lot of work, which is why BIVDA launched a Sustainability Training Program for all of its members, as a way to start sharing ideas and foster a more combined attitude. Sustainability is a key issue of operational transformation that the IVD sector must take heed of in light of the very real threat of climate change, our collective corporate social responsibility and the duty we all share to protect the environment.

As the trade association for the IVD sector, we’re proud to champion the sustainable charge and help empower and facilitate the sector on its journey towards enhanced sustainability.