Abbott significantly reduces reliance upon fossil fuels

Abbott has cut its reliance upon fossil fuels in line with plans laid out in 2007, it has announced, leading to a 35 per cent reduction in its use of coal and oil within the last three years.

The company revealed that it purchased 1.3 million megawatt hours of electricity last year, a 32 per cent drop from 2006.

In 2007, Abbott set targets to reduce its global electricity and fossil fuel usage by 12 per cent compared to 2006 levels by the end of 2011 – a goal it has now reached well ahead of schedule.

Corlis Murray, vice-president of global engineering services at Abbott, said: “Our businesses have employed a variety of approaches that are economically as well as environmentally sustainable based on the many different products we market.”

At the end of last month, Abbott revealed that it has agreed to purchase Solvay’s pharmaceutical business for a total of 4.5 billion euros (4.1 billion pounds).