Saving Water and Sustaining the Environment

ESG in Action

At Teva, our commitment to helping improve patients' health is closely intertwined with our responsibility to preserve the environment and ensure that our medicines are produced in the most sustainable way.

For Ann Lee-Jeffs and her team, safeguarding resources is just another day on the job. As Teva's Senior Director for Environment and Sustainability, Ann is focused on ensuring the process of developing and manufacturing life-saving medications is also kind to the environment.

"I've spent much of my career helping companies become healthier, safer, and more environmentally sustainable. At Teva, this includes looking at ways to use more eco-friendly materials to create products, making sure employees have the information they need to stay safe, and looking at what we can do to ensure that when we dispose of materials so it doesn’t cause harm," says Ann.

Teva is committed to its environmental targets as demonstrated in the latest sustainability linked bond and renewed environmental goals.

Climate Change is the biggest environmental challenge the world faces. Teva is conscious that reducing its carbon footprint will contribute to efforts to meet the Paris Climate Agreement, in limiting mean global temperature rises to well below 2oC above pre-industrial temperatures level and preferably limit the increase to 1.5oC. Climate change is rapid, widespread and intensifying [1]. Many of the changes observed in the climate are unprecedented in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years and some of the changes have already been set in motion, including droughts and water scarcity in some parts of the world.

As part of its environmental commitments, Teva has set a goal of reducing its water use by 10% by 2030 at sites located in water scarce regions including Israel and India. "We must adopt a culture change for efficient and reused water use in our operations where technically feasible. This should also benefit the communities and surrounding areas that share valuable natural resources. We are focusing on nine sites that make up 80% of our water withdrawal in water scarce areas as disparate as the USA, Mexico and India," said Jonathan Peers, Environmental Director Teva api.

For example, a plant in Malanpur, India is treating waste water and using it within the site's utility processes. Thus, instead of using fresh water in the cooling tower, the recycled water is used in its place. Other steps to conserve water have been implemented in everything from the office restrooms to using condensation that forms on the plant's pipes. In an effort to look for creative ways to reduce waste, another team at the Teva Effluent Treatment Plant in India created a process to remove solvents from wastewater using existing facilities to reduce the number of chemicals needed to treat the wastewater and cut airborne emissions. These projects have led to a 9% reduction in water use in one facility while production increased 25%.

"I'm proud of the fact that Teva recently improved our score in the Climate Disclosure Project rating dedicated to water and that in 2020 we reduced our water withdrawal in water stressed areas by 13% [2], and our total energy consumption by 6%1. There is still work to do, but every year we are improving and we will continue to look for creative and effective ways to reduce our water intake in the coming years," says Ann.

Minimizing emissions, waste water, and wastes is a key aspect of meeting Teva's environmental goals. “We all want an environment that will sustain us. Environmental sustainability is about a delicate balance between people, planet, and profit, otherwise known as the triple bottom line. Our actions to conserve limited natural resources will help us to protect and preserve our planet." 

Although the importance of protecting the environment is on business leaders' minds there is still a lot to be done, and sustainability will increasingly be part of Teva's strategic vision and play a role in discussions about new products and projects.

In 2021, Teva was ranked in the top 17% of pharmaceutical companies by S&P Global pharmaceutical companies and in the top 12% by Sustainalytics when it comes to ESG. 

For Ann and her team a focus on water conservation goes hand in hand with bringing value to our stakeholders and patients. "At Teva, our overall commitment to helping improve patients' health is directly tied to our commitment to preserving the environment and ensuring that our life-saving medicines are produced in the most sustainable way," she says. 

References

[1] 6th Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

[2] Relative to 2019

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