According to EFPIA’s climate survey and white paper, member companies have substantially reduced emissions between 2019 and 2024, with Scope 1 emissions falling by around 18% and Scope 2 emissions by 64%, driven largely by a rapid transition to renewable electricity. Renewable electricity consumption has tripled in just five years, while around 75% of companies now have comprehensive climate targets covering all emission scopes.

Companies are also advancing product lifecycle assessments and carbon footprinting, with more than half reaching mid-to-advanced maturity in these areas. Climate-related risks are increasingly integrated into business decision-making, and industry participation in collaborative sustainability initiatives continues to grow, improving transparency and accelerating progress across the value chain.

At the policy level, evolving EU regulations such as the Green Deal, Clean Industrial Deal, Net-Zero Industry Act, Ecodesign Regulation, and the 2025 Omnibus Package are increasing expectations for environmental performance while seeking to maintain competitiveness. For the pharmaceutical sector, this creates opportunities to drive innovation and decarbonisation, but also challenges related to emissions reporting, supply chain management, and sustainability requirements in procurement.

Collaboration remains a key driver of progress. Initiatives such as the Pharmaceutical LCA Consortium, Sustainable Markets Initiative Health Systems Task Force, Energize, PSCI, PHARMECO, and ENKORE are helping companies tackle complex sustainability challenges.