Challenges of a sustainable pharmaceutical industry

The pharmaceutical industry faces a variety of challenges when it comes to sustainability, in particular in the logistics sector. Global supply chains make it imperative to have an efficient and environmentally friendly transport infrastructure in place to deliver perfect-quality medicine to patients on time. A considerable amount of energy is required to maintain cold chains and the urgent delivery of medicine, and this puts additional burdens on the environment. That’s why the industry’s goal is to address these challenges and to establish logistics that are more sustainable.

Our sustainability strategy for greener pharmaceutical logistics

As part of our commitment to achieve a greener pharmaceutical industry, we’ve set ambitious goals at NextPharma Logistics. We want to be carbon-neutral by 2025 at the latest and make a significant contribution to reducing our environmental impact. True to our CSR motto “NextGreen,” we seek to set a benchmark in terms of sustainability in the pharmaceutical industry and act as an example for other companies. To achieve these goals, we have focused our strategy on three main areas, which represent the foundations of our sustainable actions:

Zero Emissions

As part of our efforts to minimize our ecological footprint, we’ve pledged to reduce emissions and to ultimately cut them down to zero. Under the guiding principle “Zero Emissions,” we employ a range of strategies to decrease our carbon emissions. This includes using more renewable energies, switching to energy-efficient transport, and offsetting our remaining emissions through sustainable projects. It is our goal to establish environmentally friendly operations and positively impact climate protection.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

As part of our sustainability strategy, we abide by the principle “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” to conserve resources and minimize waste. We are helping to lower natural resource consumption by promoting reusable solutions and reducing the use of single-use materials such as packaging. Supporting the reuse and recycling of materials is also part of our endeavors to extend the life cycle of our products and reduce environmental impact. By incorporating these principles into our business practices, we aim to do business in a more sustainable and resource-saving manner.

Social Hero

As a “Social Hero,” we are actively committed to social responsibility and are dedicated to the welfare of our community. Aside from our environmental initiatives, we support various social projects and organizations in order to positively influence the lives of people around the globe. We firmly believe that companies play an important role in society and should take on responsibility for the common good. As a “Social Hero,” we are helping to tackle social challenges and drive change in society over the long run.

Our measures for greater sustainability in pharmaceutical logistics

Energy-efficient transport methods

To minimize the carbon footprint of our logistics activities, we use energy-efficient transport methods. They include using more hybrid and electric vehicles as well as assigning higher priority to sustainable transport companies that rely on alternative drive systems such as hydrogen.

Efficient process design

Efficient process design makes it possible for us to streamline operations in efforts to minimize the consumption of resources and increase energy efficiency. Making sure that our processes as well as those of our partners are as resource-efficient as possible is important to us.

Resource-saving logistics centers

With the aim of reducing energy consumption and maximizing the use of renewable energies, we design our logistics centers to be environmentally friendly and to use innovative technologies. Our new location in Schaffhausen, Germany, for example, is outfitted with a PV system to create more energy than we require.

Switching over to reusable boxes

We are making more and more use of resource-efficient reusable boxes and minimizing the usage of disposable packaging, such as corrugated cardboard boxes and bubble wrap. To further reduce environmental impact, we also encourage using biodegradable materials.

Carbon-neutral website and sustainable Office Management

Our goal is to have a carbon-neutral website and implement sustainable office management so that our office activities are also environmentally friendly. Measures such as the climate compensation on our website and fewer business trips are helping us to actively reduce our environmental footprint.