ISPE Announces a Sustainability Community of Practice
09 July, 2024
The International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) has announced the launch of the ISPE Community of Practice (CoP) on Sustainability.
ISPE has announced the launch of the ISPE Community of Practice (CoP) on Sustainability. The Sustainability CoP joins ISPE’s 20 Global Technical CoPs and supports industry-wide efforts to reliably deliver quality medicines to people.
Governments around the world have made international commitments to reduce climate impact and protect nature. Policy frameworks have been established to facilitate and drive progress against agreed upon targets. These directly impact end-to-end activities for the biopharmaceutical, pharmaceutical, and medical device sectors, including research and development, manufacturing, commercial activities, and extended supply chains including logistics. The supplier base and contract development and manufacturing landscape are also heavily impacted, as both significantly affect the product footprint on environmental, social, and governance (ESG).
The new Sustainability CoP’s mission is as follows:
To provide a community for ISPE members on the topic of sustainability in the pharmaceutical industry and its end-to-end value chains
To provide a forum for ISPE members to help each other solve daily work problems and engage in networking, through ISPE Engage sites and other communication methods
To innovate and create breakthrough ideas, knowledge, and practices to improve the practice of sustainability in the pharmaceutical industry
To disseminate ideas, knowledge, and best practices through the generation of ISPE content
To facilitate dialogue with regulators and legislative bodies to provide guidance, harmonization, and provide industry comment, when applicable
To apply and interface with the science-based targets initiative (SBTi) and sustainable market initiative (SMI) to bring together end-to-end value chain stakeholders
The Sustainability CoP will be holistic, focusing on sustainability and responsibility in all facets across the product life cycle. These include:
Energy and carbon reduction
Waste reduction / packaging reduction
Green chemistry
Process efficiency
Research and development efficiency
Water usage and impacts
Product stewardship, including sustainability and relevant legislative aspects
Impacts on organization and culture
Considerations for future states enabled by digital transformation and Pharma 4.0™ concepts that impact sustainability goals
Environmental sustainability is vital for protecting the well-being of both people and the planet, ensuring a healthier future for generations to come. We believe that as a nonprofit and given the scope and caliber of its robust network of 22,000 members which includes pharmaceutical companies and their suppliers, ISPE is uniquely positioned to facilitate one unified and aligned approach to help fulfill our industry-wide commitments to sustainability. With the addition of this new CoP, we plan to identify and bring forth best practices, define maturity levels, liaise with regulatory and law-making bodies, and communicate valuable lessons learned and case studies with relevant stakeholders – all while maintaining focus on quality and safety.
Members of Sustainability CoP will aim to bring forward solutions for the industry’s unique challenges related to sustainability, gathering insights and engaging in data as well as knowledge-sharing with the pharmaceutical community. The new CoP offers members the opportunity to collaborate with 20 existing CoPs in the ISPE community to deliver solutions in the area of sustainability, leveraging existing resources such as the ISPE Baseline Guide Volume 6: Biomanufacturing Facilities (Third Edition) and exploring pertinent topics like the influence on reduction of energy consumption in facility design.
Existing ISPE members are invited to join the Sustainability CoP by selecting the Sustainability CoP in their ISPE profiles. To view the list of existing CoPs.
