Cristina Raventós, Almirall’s Global Sustainability Senior Manager, discusses the pharmaceutical industry’s sustainability journey and how the company is driving positive change with their Act4Impact strategy.
Tell me about your career to date, your journey into ESG/sustainability and your roles and responsibilities at Almirall?
After a background in industrial engineering and environmental management for businesses, I began my professional career in 2010 in the sustainability consulting space, working in both the UK and Spain. During my time in consulting, I took on various roles, including managing the consultancy’s subsidiary in Spain. Over 11 years, I provided professional advisory services for sustainability and climate change projects across diverse international listed-companies and sectors. In 2022, I joined Almirall as the Global Sustainability Senior Manager, being responsible of Almirall’s Sustainability Strategy and project implementation.
Who do you report to, what initiatives are you currently working on and how does the company culture at Almirall help you in your role?
Within my role, I directly report to the Global Sustainability Executive Director, within Almirall’s People and Culture department. We are currently working on the deployment of Almirall’s 2030 Sustainability Strategy, establishing an effective governance, coordinating the different workstreams, projects and initiatives planned, as well as defining a sustainability training strategy to raise awareness and capacity building across all Almirall.
The culture at Almirall has been key to be able to advance in our Sustainability journey and integrate it into the business strategy of the company. Almirall aspires to have a people-focused culture in which everyone gives their best, patients and customers are at the heart of every decision, and whose focus and agility make it possible to generate a greater impact for everyone.
While listening and empathy are at the heart of everything we do, individual, team and organisational courage must be fostered, as well as innovation to remain competitive, and simplification to focus on what is most important. All these values are closely linked to Almirall’s sustainability vision of caring for the environment and the society and acting to generate a greater impact.
What are the key takeaways from Almirall’s new sustainability strategy?
The new sustainability strategy, Act4Impact 2030, aims to drive lasting transformation on the company’s journey to sustainability. Through this comprehensive approach, Almirall strives to make a meaningful and enduring difference in society and the environment while upholding its core principles of transparency, responsibility, ethics, and compliance.
The strategy focuses on five main pillars: “Planet,” “People,” “Patients,” “Partners,” and “Principles.” It consists of 20 strategic lines of action, including the deployment of its Net Zero Strategy through energy decarbonisation, sustainable mobility, and supplier engagement plans; the definition and deployment of the 2030 Global Diversity Equity and Inclusion Plan, encompassing all types of diversity; and the enhancement of our Supplier Risk Management Process. Each initiative is monitored by indicators and targets to ensure robust and comparable tracking over time.
Why was the decision taken to set even more ambitious goals than those already achieved so far?
As a company whose purpose is to improve people’s lives, Almirall has been committed to conducting its operations in a responsible and sustainable manner for many years. We are proud of our achievements in sustainability, and we are determined to keep evolving our approaches for an even bigger impact in the future.
After the definition of the new 2030 Sustainability Strategy and based on the results of the annual review of Almirall’s performance against the targets included in the previous Sustainability Dashboard (approved in 2022) as well as a benchmarking exercise carried out, a need for an update of the dashboard in place was identified. The update consists of both a review of the ambition of certain KPIs and the inclusion or exclusion of some others. This was deemed necessary to be aligned with industry best practices as well as with the new vision and goals of the 2030 Sustainability Strategy – Act4Impact.
How will Almirall be accountable for those goals and what is the pathway proposed to achieve them?
The strategy has 20 strategic lines of action that will be key to meeting the objectives framed within its Sustainability Dashboard, approved by the Board of Directors. Each line of action will be monitored by indicators and targets to ensure robust and comparable monitoring over time.
We have in place a dedicated sustainability governance structure, including a cross-functional ESG committee, who will oversee the implementation of the Act4Impact strategy. This committee is responsible for ensuring that sustainability considerations are integrated into all business decisions.
Since 2022, sustainability criteria have presence in the short-term variable remuneration of all members of the Management Board and key stakeholders involved in the deployment of the strategy, ensuring an effective link between the company’s business model and strategy to its variable executive remuneration strategy. Additionally, this year we have also introduced sustainability criteria in our long-term variable remuneration of senior management. In this way, we boost our commitment and enhance long-term sustainable value creation.
Lastly, to be accountable for these goals, Almirall will provide regular updates on our progress towards meeting our sustainability targets through our sustainability and annual reports, as well as other publications and ratings. We will conduct periodic performance reviews to assess our progress against the set KPIs. This will involve evaluating the effectiveness of implemented strategies and making necessary adjustments to stay on track. In fact, some of these goals, such as our science-aligned carbon reduction targets have been validated by the Science Based Target Initiative showing our public commitment towards their achievement.
What are the fundamental issues right now within the wider pharmaceutical industry with regard to sustainability, being sustainable by design, across drug development, packaging, etc?
The pharmaceutical industry faces ever-changing global challenges and market forces, and hence, it should review and revise product design to ensure that quality products remain available while moving toward net zero emissions, water consumption reduction, zero pollution, etc.
Sustainable approaches, such as the Sustainability by design framework, aim to minimise impact on the environment along the entire product life cycle. This is an innovative approach that poses a complex challenge for the industry as a whole.
At Almirall we are starting to take steps in this direction and are working on understanding our main products’ sustainability-associated life cycle. This will help us to have a baseline and identify key hotspots. Along with this, we are also progressing on our sustainable packaging programme, which aim is to promote the circular economy of our packaging in order to minimise its environmental impact. In recent years, Almirall has worked continuously on various sustainable packaging projects and recently an interdisciplinary team has been formed within the company to develop and advance sustainable packaging policies and initiatives in a coordinated and cross-cutting manner. By the end of 2023, more than 30 initiatives have been generated for evaluation such as the use of of cardboard certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the elimination of package leaflets in cosmetic specialties and dietary supplements or the elimination of band/strip for inclusion of in-line material control code.
What are the key challenges facing companies, and what are the key opportunities for forward-thinking organisations?
One of the key challenges for companies is not to fall behind and to actively respond to society’s needs. Simple commitments are no longer enough; the current landscape demands companies to delve deeper and embed sustainability across all facets of their operations and beyond, influencing their value chains.
For that, companies must be able to elevate their discourse to take collaboration to another level and generate horizontal alliances that go beyond legislative issues. The value chain is a crucial point for generating positive impact and driving global transformation. Although this is a challenge, it also represents a major opportunity for forward-thinking companies to mobilise their value chain and contribute to the creation of a more sustainable future. For that, cooperation with our main suppliers and the rest of the sector is key, as we share the same challenges
Being aware of this, organisations must also navigate an increasingly complex disclosure landscape – new frameworks, taxonomies, legislation, etc.
But this also poses opportunities, since companies need to consider how implementing the reporting requirements extends beyond the immediate compliance exercise and can drive broader changes to strategy, governance, operations, and data
If you were to give a score out of 10 for the pharmaceutical industry’s progress, what would it be and why?
The industry has progressed significantly during the last few years. An example of this is the sizeable — and influential — number of pharmaceutical companies that have set ambitious goals to reduce their carbon footprints. An estimated 46% of pharmaceutical and biotech companies by revenue signed the United Nation’s Race to Zero campaign and committed to halve their emissions by 2030, with the ultimate goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050. And last November, seven of the largest pharmaceutical companies came together to quicken climate action along their supply chains.
At Almirall, we have also made significant steps in the last few years. In 2020, Almirall’s Board of Directors approved its first formal ESG & Sustainability Strategy for 2021-2023. The strategy was structured along 15 working areas grouped into four top-level strategic lines, namely “Environmental”, Social”, “Governance”, and “Management and Communication”, which contribute to the UN 2030 Agenda (SDGs). During the period 2021-2023, Almirall progressed in the deployment of the different initiatives, meeting the vast majority of the objectives and milestones set and published, for the first time, its Sustainability Dashboard, including a set of established indicators and targets for 2030.
In late 2023, and with everything we had accomplished we were ready to go one step further, raise the bar, increase our ambition, go beyond caring and act for a greater impact. We have evolved our sustainability strategy to Act4Impact, a comprehensive approach that integrates these essential areas of action. Act4Impact is more than a commitment; it’s a central, cross-cutting axis of our business strategy guiding our decisions and driving initiatives aimed at creating enduring value. Our objective is to foster a significant and enduring positive impact on both society and the environment.
Our sustainability-related efforts have already been recognized by the main ESG Rating Agencies (Sustainalytics, EcoVadis and CDP) who have evaluated very positively our performance, positioning ourselves amongst the top companies globally and improving our scores year on year. (Sustainalytics: 17.1 -Low Risk-, amongst Top 5% of pharma companies; Ecovadis: 84% -Platinum medal-, amongst top 1% of pharma companies; CDP: A- Leadership level, amongst 21% of pharma companies globally).
What can we expect from Almirall in the realm of sustainability and ESG in the next 12 months?
Within the indicators of our sustainability strategy Act4Impact, we have established several key performance indicators (KPIs) for the coming years to ensure their correct implementation.
Among the planned indicators, we have set ambitious targets for reducing our carbon footprint. Specifically, we aim to reduce our carbon footprint in Scopes 1 and 2 by at least 12% and our carbon footprint in Scope 3 by 8% by 2025. These reductions will be achieved through various initiatives, including enhancing energy efficiency, transitioning to renewable energy sources, and progressing on our Supplier Decarbonisation Programme.
In addition to our environmental goals, we are also focusing on social sustainability through the implementation of our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Plan. We are committed to increasing the percentage of women in senior leadership positions ensuring that exceeds 40% and keep the gender pay gap in minimum levels (+/- 2.5%). This commitment reflects our dedication to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace where all employees have the opportunity to thrive. These are examples of the 17 KPIs included in our Sustainability Dashboard representing our strong commitment towards sustainable development. By setting these KPIs and striving to meet them, we are not only advancing our sustainability agenda but also reinforcing our commitment to making a meaningful and lasting impact on society and the environment.
