Novo Nordisk announces zero-emissions production goal for 2020

Novo Nordisk has announced plans to switch exclusively to using electricity from renewable sources at all its global production sites by 2020.

This is already true of the company's production sites in Denmark, Brazil and Japan. If this can be achieved across the organisation's entire network, it will ensure that Novo Nordisk produces no CO2 emissions from electricity at its plants.

Last month, the firm's Chinese production site in Tianjin signed an agreement on purchasing electricity from a windmill farm in Inner Mongolia. Other sites in the US, France, Russia, Algeria and Iran will initiate similar arrangements in the coming years.

Henrik Wulff, executive vice-president and head of product supply at Novo Nordisk, said: "Setting an absolute target of zero CO2 emissions from electricity at all our global production sites in just five years is ambitious, as our production is growing to meet the increasing global demand for our diabetes products."

This comes after the firm recently joined the RE100, a collaborative initiative of global businesses committed to using 100 percent renewable electricity.

Other healthcare businesses that have supported the initiative include Biogen, Johnson and Johnson, Philips and Procter and Gamble.