Turning words into action. Chiesi, an international research-oriented pharmaceutical group, supports its carbon neutrality plan with the new #ActionOverWords campaign, designed to turn the spotlight on the importance of having a global movement oriented towards corporate sustainability. “The #ActionOverWords Campaign is the final stage of a journey that began some time ago – explains Ugo Di Francesco, CEO of the Chiesi Group – when we transformed the Group into a Benefit company and a certified B Corp, making the commitment to minimize the impact environmental impact of our products and activities. Now we want to play an active and proactive role towards the external community, creating a movement in which everyone plays their part ».
Chiesi’s reduction targets have been approved by the Science Based Target Initiative (Sbti) and are in line with the more ambitious goal set out in the Paris Agreement: to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 ° C compared to pre-industrial levels by 2100. “To become carbon neutral by 2035, one of the commitments is to reduce by 2030 more than 80% of greenhouse gas emissions per unit of inhalers sold compared to 2019 – continues Di Francesco – This is why we have invested 350 million euros to develop a new propellant with low global warming potential, which will become a platform for all our inhalers ». Other initiatives involve cutting direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions by 50% associated with the purchase of electricity and heat. “For example, by electrifying the company car fleet and improving operational activities in sites where 100% of renewable energy consumption has not yet been reached, continues the CEO of Chiesi – In the principle of transparency, we have decided to make our emissions balance public through the Carbon Disclosure Project by the end of June this year ».
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And in Chiesi’s plans there is another ambitious project just approved by the Board of Directors: the construction in Parma of a new plant for the production of biological drugs and which could be ready in 2025. But when asked whether it will also be used to produce vaccines, the ‘ad is categorical: “no, this is a site for the production of innovative drugs – he specifies – We have collaborations with Moderna and other companies to develop orphan drugs for rare diseases such as pulmonary arterial hypertension and Fabry’s disease” .
In terms of patents, the Chiesi Group is the first Italian pharmaceutical company, fourth among Italian companies in all sectors, in terms of number of patent deposits. What is your idea of the Covid vaccine debate? «It is not the patent that has created bottlenecks, but the complexity and difficulty of producing vaccines and therefore the technology transfer. The patent is a guarantee for all sectors, not just pharmaceuticals, without which research cannot exist ».