Environmental and human health are interconnected, and as champions of public health, Viatris recognizes the need to facilitate access to medicines while upholding environmental stewardship. We believe environmental regulations should be science-based and targeted, addressing the true causes of environmental concerns. We are committed to partnering to find creative solutions that balance the need for environmental protection with the need for continued availability of essential medicines.
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Economic Models to Sustain Access to Medicines

The off-patent medicine industry faces a unique dilemma while undertaking efforts to minimize environmental impact. Unlike in other industries, medicines are generally purchased by governments at prices that are not allowed to fluctuate. At the same time, manufacturers face implementation costs as they update production facilities and processes to comply with new, ambitious environmental policies. When costs rise and manufacturers cannot make a proportionate adjustment to prices, certain products could become commercially unviable, increasing the likelihood of medicine shortages. We believe that policymakers should factor financing measures into environmental regulations to ensure manufacturing changes can be sustainably implemented.

The Importance of Thoughtful Regulation

An independent analysis commissioned by Viatris found that if manufacturers bore 100% of the cost of adapting to a proposed regulation, it would increase production costs by 4,5%, enough to result in returns for 24% of products assessed falling below the cost of production. The report offers solutions for how environmental concerns can be addressed in an economically sustainable way.

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Stakeholder Collaboration

Creating lasting and impactful change requires collaboration. Viatris partners and engages with governments, non-profit organisations, and industry groups to advance environmental progress in a meaningful and science-based way.
Memberships and Partnerships

Climate

A healthy planet is vital to accomplish our mission of empowering people worldwide to live healthier at every stage of their lives. We support the European Union’s ambitions to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. The implementation of the Green Deal offers the opportunity to enhance environmental sustainability in the pharmaceutical industry while ensuring healthy competition and stable supply of affordable high-quality medicines. Leveraging established industry initiatives, promoting reward systems and including environmental criteria as part of the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) model in procurement are measures that can support the pharmaceutical industry in its green transition, while ensuring the continued manufacture of medicines for Europeans.
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Viatris' Commitment on Climate

As a healthcare company with a global reach, we are committed to taking action against climate change, which poses health dangers on a worldwide scale. Our work to reduce the effects of climate change helps improve the health of those we serve, build resilience in our operations and protect the communities where we live and work.

We have formally committed to reduce emissions from our operations and energy consumption — absolute Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions — 42% by 2030 and reduce Scope 3 GHG emissions covering purchase goods and services, capital goods, fuel and energy related alternatives and upstream transportation and distribution 25% by 2030, using a 2020 baseline.

We are also working to reduce carbon emissions across our supply chain. We work across all three of our freight transportation modes - road, ocean and air - to that end. Transport efficiency is a primary objective. We focus on full truck loads and double stacking of pallets where possible. Full truck loads are considered the most efficient mode of transit. The sourcing of transportation providers considers sustainability as a factor. Our key logistics suppliers have sustainability programs and are active in reducing GHG emissions. To enable the shift to ocean and road freight - which is less GHG intensive than air - we have been building in more time for transportation into our processes, which hinges on good demand data and forecast planning. We have a rapid response system and have established a standard operating procedure to make ocean freight our standard mode. In 2022, road and ocean represented 89% of all transport. As timely access to medicine is the priority, there are exceptions when speed is of the essence.