Outstanding investment in knowledge and record investment in environmental projects
- In 2022, Novartis in Slovenia invested €10.5 million in environmental protection, the highest amount in the last decade.
- With active energy management, energy consumption decreased by 3.4% and total greenhouse gas emissions by 4.4%.
- Thanks to new preventive measures, the introduction of new products and the increased number of employees (index 107[1]) were not reflected in the growth of water consumption, which increased by 1.1%.
- Employees on average received 74.2 hours of training, which is significantly above the national average.
Record investments in advanced environmental solutions and extensive acquisition of new employee skills are key features of the results of Novartis's management of sustainable aspects of business in the past year, as presented in their recently published Sustainability Report 2022.
"Knowledge is a decisive factor in our value creation for stakeholders. We are proud that our employees receive an average of more than 9 days of training per year, which is much more than the corporate average in Slovenia[2]. Investments in the knowledge of employees pay off for both the company and society and are reflected in top-quality medicines and greater accessibility of treatment to patients. Production volume has long not been an indicator of our growth, the key is the added value contributed by highly educated employees with the help of advanced technologies," said Robert Ljoljo, president of Lek Board of Management, pointing to extensive and successful collaboration with local scientific and research institutions.
Knowledge and advanced environmental technologies are also of key importance for Novartis's responsible management of environmental impacts, which was accompanied by a wide range of measures in the past year – from investments in the construction of small solar power plants at the Ljubljana, Mengeš and Lendava sites to the installation of highly energy and environmentally efficient equipment. The company spent €10.5 million for them, the most in the last decade. With projects to improve energy efficiency, Lek saved 49.6 TJ of energy and 4,463 tons of CO2e into the atmosphere at all four sites.
Energy consumption decreased at all sites and was a total of 3.4% lower in 2022 than the previous year. Company reduced total greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1 and 2) by 4.4%, while reducing direct greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1) even more significantly, by 10.6%. With continued active management, increased water consumption achieved only 1.1% growth despite changes in the product portfolio and higher production intensity. Waste from all sites was quantitatively higher than the year before, namely 2.1%, of which non-hazardous waste represents 92.6% and biodegradable 82% of all waste. Non-hazardous waste is almost completely recycled (99.3%).
Once again, the company successfully passed the ISO 14001 environmental standard audit, the demanding system for environmental management EMAS, and the assessment of the standard for employee health and safety ISO 45001.
The Sustainability Report, entitled “Empowering a society of knowledge”, is published according to the international sustainability reporting standards of the GRI and includes the requirements of the EMAS system and Responsible Care Initiative (RCI) for the chemical industry. After the transformation into two separate companies, both Lek d.d. and Novartis d.o.o. will maintain their sustainable business orientation. They will also continue their commitment to comprehensive sustainability reporting, which Lek established as one of the first companies in Slovenia 13 years ago[3].
[1] At the end of 2022, Lek had 5,771 full-time employees and Novartis in Slovenia more than 5,800 employees, which is 7% more than in 2021.
[2] According to the data of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, in 2020, in the average Slovenian company each employee received an average of 13 hours of training per year: https://www.stat.si/StatWeb/News/Index/10391.
[3] Lek d.d. disclosed its environmental impacts publicly for the first time in the Environmental Report for 2009, and a comprehensive sustainability report for the first time in 2010 (Sustainability Report 2010 – Lek d.d.).
Novartis is the leading provider of medicines in Slovenia, where Lek d.d., Novartis Pharma Services Inc. and Sandoz d.d., operate. Together we are building and maintaining the reputation of a dynamic, ethical, and trusted pharmaceutical company. Lek develops, manufactures, and markets effective, safe, and high quality medicines and active pharmaceutical ingredients. With our knowledge, quality, and experience we have gained an important role in Novartis' organizational structure, especially in the Novartis Operations, Global DrugDevelopment and the generic division Sandoz. We are the leading Sandoz development center, and one of the key development sites for technologically complex projects. We invest a great deal in the development, education, and training of our employees. Novartis invested in Slovenia more than EUR 3.4billion since 2003.
About Sandoz
Sandoz, a Novartis division, is a global leader in generic pharmaceuticals and biosimilars. Our purpose is to pioneer access for patients by developing and commercializing novel, affordable approaches that address unmet medical needs.Our ambition is to be the world’s leading and most valued generics company. Our broad portfolio of high-quality medicines, covering all major therapeutic areas, accounted for 2022 sales of USD 9.2 billion.
About Novartis
Novartis is reimagining medicine to improve and extend people’s lives. We deliver high-value medicines that alleviate society’s greatest disease burdens through technology leadership in R&D and novel access approaches. In our quest to find new medicines, we consistently rank among the world’s top companies investing in research and development. About 103,000 people of more than 140 nationalities work together to bring Novartis products to nearly 800million people around the world. Find out more at https://www.novartis.com.
This press release contains statements and forecasts of future business operations.The forecasts include estimates based on all the information currently available to us. Should these forecasts prove unreliable, the actual results of business operations could be different from those expected.
Forfurther information, please contact:
GregorMakuc
Corporate Affairs
Lek Pharmaceuticals d.d.
Telephone: 01 580 22 43
gregor.makuc@sandoz.com
