Sustainability

Our Commitment

Sustainability is a key consideration for us in all we do. That is one reason our employees are proud to work for Lonza, a Swiss company that has been successful for more than 125 years. Evolving from a producer of electricity and carbide products into a preferred global partner to the pharmaceutical, biotech and nutrition markets, Lonza has a long-standing commitment to safety and sustainability.

Our people are the cornerstone of our business, so we want all our employees to grow and develop professionally at a sustainable pace. We provide them with safe workplaces, care for their well-being and foster their involvement in creating a positive working environment.

As a baseline for whatever we do, we ensure that regulatory compliance, integrity and ethical conduct are the foundations in every place we operate. More than five years ago, we took a step up to operate even more safely and sustainably by announcing our Vision Zero, the aspiration to work without incidents and reduce emissions, water consumption and waste. This program has led to a remarkable reduction in incidents and increased efficiency.

With a long-term view to 2030, we want to reduce consumption considerably to align with the broadly accepted greenhouse gas reduction targets, with an ambition of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. Therefore in 2023, as part of our emission reduction strategy, we have submitted a letter of commitment to the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) with plans to reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by more than 40% by the end of 2030 (from a 2021 base year). We have also signed a ten-year virtual power purchase agreement with renewable energy company IGNIS to generate more than 300 GWh of solar power annually, matching the company’s electricity needs across Switzerland and the European Union. Together, these agreements underline Lonza’s long-term commitment to sustainable business practice.

Performance

People

Planet

Community

Ethics and Compliance

Global Quality

Responsible Sourcing

Sustainability Report

To learn more about Lonza’s sustainability approach and performance, see the Sustainability Report 2023.

We group our sustainability initiatives around the seven Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) most relevant to our businesses.

Good Health and Wellbeing: We enable a healthier world by working with our customers to overcome some of the greatest challenges in patient treatment. We aim to achieve this with products, services and cutting-edge technologies that can help to save, extend and enhance lives. The safety of our employees has always been a top priority for us and a healthy and safe workforce contributes to our success.

Climate Action: Based on scientific evidence, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions contribute to global warming. This affects the climate globally, impacts the planet, health and wellbeing. To enable a healthier world, we must take decisive steps to reduce our own GHG emissions over the next decade and ultimately aim for net-zero GHG emissions by 2050.

Gender Equality: We gain and maintain our competitive advantage and strength by having a diverse global employee community, which embraces the value and benefit of differences in characteristic, preference, perspective and belief.

Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure: We continuously invest in innovation while further improving our operational excellence. We are also creating vital, game-changing technologies, including gene editing systems and automated therapy manufacturing systems. We aim to embed sustainability into our organic growth and footprint expansion by design.

Responsible Consumption and Production: We continue to reduce our impact on the environment and have programs to limit our material consumption and waste generation. We aspire to source materials from responsible suppliers that meet strict compliance standards and have actions in place to reduce their emissions, waste, natural resources in line with our expectations, in addition to a climate action plan which supports Lonza’s Scope 3 emissions reduction plan.

Clean Water and Sanitation: Access to clean, plentiful and potable water is a basic human need and critical to ensure the quality of our products. We need to protect the water ecosystem to ensure that they are not contaminated by pharmaceutical substances or other pollutants.

Quality Education: We recognize that our people are the cornerstone of our success and we want to see them grow. As we develop innovations in pharma, biotech and nutrition, we aim to increase partnerships and our contribution to the scientific community.