Guide: Sustainability
Published: August 2025
Pages: 96
This ISPE Sustainability Guide is a foundational document that presents key principles and concepts to reinforce sustainable practices in the pharmaceutical industry, based on global and local guides, including existing regulations. Although intended for Small and Medium Sized Entreprises (SME) at the start of their sustainability journey, larger organizations may also use this Guide to support their sustainability strategy.
The main objectives of the Guide are to provide an overview of key environmental sustainability definitions, to develop a cohesive industry approach that integrates sustainability into existing pharmaceutical development, operations, quality and supply chain processes, and to provide guidance on the management of sustainability programs, including the use of metrics to measure performance.
Key concepts discussed include:
- Product and Environmental Sustainability
- Net-Zero (Greenhouse Gas Emissions)
- Nature Positive
- Sustainability by Design
- Circular Economy
- Ethical Considerations
The intent is to guide the pharmaceutical industry toward a future where sustainable practices are embedded in every lifecycle stage of pharmaceutical development and production.
Guide Core Team
For the full list of contributors to this Guide see Guidance Document Teams
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- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Algeria
- Angola
- Argentina
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Bangladesh
- Belarus
- Belize
- Benin
- Bhutan
- Bolivia
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Botswana
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cabo Verde
- Cambodia
- Cameroon
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- China
- Colombia
- Comoros
- Congo, Dem. Rep.
- Congo, Rep.
- Costa Rica
- Côte d’Ivoire
- Cuba
- Djibouti
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- Egypt, Arab Rep.
- El Salvador
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Eswatini
- Ethiopia
- Fiji
- Gabon
- Gambia, The
- Georgia
- Ghana
- Grenada
- Guatemala
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Haiti
- Honduras
- India
- Indonesia
- Iran, Islamic Rep.
- Iraq
- Jamaica
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Kenya
- Kiribati
- Korea, Dem. People's Rep.
- Kosovo
- Kyrgyz Republic
- Lao PDR
- Lebanon
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Libya
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Malaysia
- Maldives
- Mali
- Marshall Islands
- Mauritania
- Mauritius
- Mexico
- Micronesia, Fed. Sts.
- Moldova
- Mongolia
- Montenegro
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Myanmar
- Namibia
- Nepal
- Nicaragua
- Niger
- Nigeria
- North Macedonia
- Pakistan
- Palau
- Papua New Guinea
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Philippines
- Russian Federation
- Rwanda
- Samoa
- São Tomé and Príncipe
- Senegal
- Serbia
- Sierra Leone
- Solomon Islands
- Somalia
- South Africa
- South Sudan
- Sri Lanka
- St. Lucia
- St. Vincent and the Grenadines
- Sudan
- Suriname
- Syrian Arab Republic
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania
- Thailand
- Timor-Leste
- Togo
- Tonga
- Tunisia
- Türkiye
- Turkmenistan
- Tuvalu
- Uganda
- Ukraine
- Uzbekistan
- Vanuatu
- Vietnam
- West Bank and Gaza
- Yemen, Rep.
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
