Sofia Sotiropoulou, senior director of Sustainability and Climate Innovation at Lonza Capsugel shares thoughts on the current state of sustainability in the industry.
Lonza Capsugel
What is the current state of sustainability in the pharmaceutical industry and how is supply chain impacted?
Drug development is a resource-, time-, and energy-intensive process, with advanced global manufacturing and supply chain networks. As a result, the health care sector has a significant carbon footprint and impact on climate change, specifically in the tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions they release globally.
Recent research, such as a Cytiva Life Sciences report, indicates that almost two-thirds of surveyed pharmaceutical and biopharma professionals consider sustainability their top priority for the next five years. This has led the health care sector and their stakeholders across biotech, pharmaceutical, and nutraceutical to decarbonise their supply chains and lower GHG emissions by adopting more sustainable practices. And, since the majority of the GHG emissions in health care come from upstream supply chains, there is an enormous pressure put on suppliers to reduce this.
For example, in capsule production, Scope 1 and 2 emissions, those generated directly by operations and from purchased energy, account for 30–50% of a capsule’s total carbon footprint. The remaining 50–70% is attributed to Scope 3 emissions, which encompass upstream activities such as raw material extraction, transportation, and processing.
To address this, drug developers and their upstream supply partners are prioritising the sustainability of their manufacturing practices and actively transitioning to renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and hydroelectric power, aiming to reduce their Scope emissions. This can be achieved through the following strategies:
- Transitioning to renewable electricity where available through solar panel installations and virtual Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).
- Reducing resource usage, such as energy and water, and minimising packaging.
- Utilising high levels of automation in manufacturing process to identify and mitigate losses, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
What challenges arise when working to ensure sustainability across the supply chain in drug development?
Ensuring supply chain sustainability in drug development requires several challenges like waste generation, resource utilisation and consumption and sourcing of raw materials. In addition to these, external pressure from the rise of the eco-conscious consumer is driving demand for products with clear environmental benefits, transparent sustainability performance and recognised certifications and labels related to climate, water or circularity.
Therefore, drug developers and their partners need to continue collaborating to develop solutions that advance sustainability and efficiency. For example, they are placing greater emphasis on efficiency, with water being a prime example. They’re not only conserving water as a scarce resource but also preserving its quality, monitoring its use during production, and guarding against discharge of effluent that may contaminate water sources. According to the Cytiva report, 58% of [surveyed biopharma professionals] say they have reduced water consumption.
Companies are also rethinking packaging and materials to reduce excess waste and becoming more vigilant about complying with regulations and guidelines. They are leveraging creativity and innovation to make pharmaceutical packaging lighter or ensure it can be reused or recycled. Through these approaches, drug developers and their partners are actively engaged in efforts to enhance the sustainability of their manufacturing practices not only in response to customer demand and the growing environmental consciousness movement, but also to safeguard their operations and supply chain, making them more climate-resilient.
Nonetheless, one of the biggest challenges of sustainability, was and continues to be the ability to measure its ROI. Supply chain sustainability has been traditionally associated with high costs in energy (i.e. for renewable electricity), technologies and materials. Healthcare professionals now clearly focus on how sustainability can also have positive impact on the bottom line. In addition, renewable electricity and heat technologies are maturing and scaling, making them financially more viable and accessible.
How does Lonza Capsugel ensure sustainability across the value chain?
At Lonza Capsugel, we established an in-house Center of Applied Sustainability to steer our organisation’s sustainability strategy and work closely with customers to support their decarbonisation efforts. By leveraging state-of-the-art tools, we can accurately measure and enhance the environmental impact of our products.
Over 90% of the materials we use are bio-based, and we maintain strong relationships with our suppliers to ensure our supply chain remains both ethical and sustainable. Through our advanced sustainability and decarbonisation initiatives, we offer capsules with 30-40% lower CO2e emissions compared to non-decarbonised ones.
We are committed to ongoing innovation in sustainability, incorporating eco-design principles into product development and continually working to reduce our own product emissions. This involves the careful selection of raw materials and a transition towards fully decarbonised energy sources. In fact, we are serious about our climate targets and set a goal of reaching 100% renewable energy across all of our manufacturing sites. As part of our progress, we recently celebrated the achievement of 100% renewable energy in Europe, which includes our Bornem, Belgium and Colmar, France sites.
We also recognise the unique requirements of our nutrition segment, which calls for products that prioritise sustainability and the ethical considerations of conscientious consumers. To meet these demands, we are exploring ways to promote circular economy practices and ensure material traceability that consumers can trust. For instance, the pullulan polymer we use to create our Capsugel Organicaps capsules is made organically by fermenting tapioca. According to market data in 2025, Organicaps capsules are the only USDA organic certified, 100% plant-based capsule made in North America.
What do you believe is the future of sustainability in drug development?
Sustainability is integral to the health of our planet and therefore should be designed within the entire value chain. Through our collaboration with pharma and biotech companies and their suppliers, there is a shared understanding that sustainable manufacturing is no longer a “nice-to-have” but essential to operations. Increasingly, we view sustainable value creation as an ethical, social, and commercial imperative and a responsibility shared across the global community.
That responsibility also shapes which partners drug developers choose to support in their sustainability journey. Manufacturers that embed sustainability across their processes, and equip customers with the capabilities, knowledge, and expertise to adopt sustainable materials and methods, will be best prepared in an ever-evolving pharma industry.