I see a strong relationship between a healthy environment and human health — it is something I think about often both at home and in my work.
Protecting the environment for future generations is something that I am personally passionate about, and in my day-to-day life, I’ve made many small changes – from increasing recycling to turning down the heating and switching to a smaller, more fuel-efficient car.
At work, I’ve collaborated with our UK facilities and fleet teams to reduce waste and cut down our fleet CO2 emissions. Several years ago, as I became interested in carbon footprinting, we started a project with one of our products that eventually led to collaboration with the Carbon Trust, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry and a number of pharmaceutical companies. The result was the development of a new carbon footprint tool for pharmaceutical products.
I believe this commitment to responsibility and environmental stewardship is fundamentally aligned with our principles at Janssen. It’s only natural that a company that spends billions of dollars on research to improve human health would embrace citizenship and sustainability. And sustainability is rooted in our Johnson & Johnson heritage, written into Our Credo:
We must be good citizens – support good works and charities and bear our fair share of taxes. We must maintain in good order the property we are privileged to use, protecting the environment and natural resources.
So I remind all our teams that sustainability is fundamental to our business.
As we continue to integrate these principles into all parts of the business at Janssen, some of our actions include:
- Implementing the EARTHWARDS® process to identify and develop improvements in both product design and in the manufacturing processes to reduce our environmental impact. This helps us create greener products, reduce waste and encourage the use of on-site renewable energy sources.
- Launching the Janssen Global Public Health organization specifically focused on expanding access to medicines and addressing unmet public health needs. We work to create sustainable access models and identify and develop vaccines, diagnostics, medicines and services in areas such as HIV, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), intestinal worms, and neglected tropical diseases.
- Finding innovative ways to reduce our carbon footprint – such as through investments in digital meeting platforms. By using digital platforms to host educational events and conduct customer meetings, we save time and energy—for ourselves and our customers. And feedback from customers indicate they appreciate not having to travel for every meeting.
As part of the world’s largest health care company and a leader in sustainable health care, Janssen strives to protect the environment and reduce our impacts across all aspects of our operations, while working to solve some of the most important unmet medical needs of our time. We believe our purpose is more than creating safe and effective medicines; it’s about sustaining a healthier world.
This month’s Financial Times Sustainable Healthcare Report explores innovative ways the health care industry is meeting new environmental challenges and creating opportunities where there was once risk. You can find the full report here.
We have an opportunity every day to contribute to a healthier world. This starts with sustainability – at home, in the office, in our communities and beyond. What will you do today to contribute to a better tomorrow?
Jane Griffiths is company group chairman for Janssen in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). In this role, she is responsible for the pharmaceutical business across the entire region. A passionate conservationist, Jane is a Board member of the Johnson & Johnson Global Pharmaceuticals Sustainability Council. Jane is also Chair of the Johnson & Johnson Corporate Citizenship Trust in EMEA and a Board member. .content