Novo Nordisk depends on land-based activities within our supply chains to provide raw materials. Most of our impact on land is driven by glucose in our production, as well as paper and cardboard packaging that ensure safe delivery of our products.

• Regenerative Agriculture is a key tool for reducing the impact of our glucose consumption. We will work with our suppliers to ensure that the wheat and maize used to produce our glucose comes from regenerative farms, which are working to restore soils and reduce nature, and carbon impacts.
  
  
• Deforestation is a key driver of nature loss, and we will work with our suppliers to ensure that our paper and cardboard supply chain is free from deforestation and in compliance with the EU Deforestation Regulation. We will look to leverage existing sustainability certification schemes.
  
  

At our sites the most critical dependency on nature is access to freshwater, and some of our production sites operate in areas of high-water stress and risk. Our priority sites for action include: Kalundborg, Hillerød, Chartres, Clayton, Tianjin, and Montes Claros. Water is also a key input to many commodities in our supply chain, and some of our raw materials may contribute to water pollution through their production and manufacturing processes.

• Water savings programmes at our priority production sites will ensure we are using water efficiently and will be achieved by undertaking detailed studies of saving opportunities. This will enable us to set a revised ambition for our existing water savings target in 2028.
  
  
• Engaging suppliers on water will be key to addressing both water quantity but also water pollution in our upstream value chain (meaning supplier-related activities). We will work closely with suppliers to build their capacity to work on water stewardship.

We have also investigated whether our medicines are likely to have environmental impacts after patient use, currently most of our portfolio is biodegradable and does not persist in the environment, however, we continue to monitor this issue.

We understand that our operations depend on and impact local ecosystems, particularly when we expand our business. Some of our sites occur near to priority biodiversity areas and some expansion projects have an impact on existing habitats. Our priority sites for action include: Kalundborg, Hillerød, Tietgenbyen, Clayton, Durham, New Hampshire, and Montes Claros.  We also have some specific dependencies on individual species such as horseshoe crabs.

• Establishing biodiversity positive sites, is a key step towards achieving net-positive biodiversity impacts our priority sites, including our expansion projects. This means planning new sites to avoid high-value nature areas and improving nature within sites by enhancing existing habitats and creating new ones.
  
  
• Avoid impact on endangered species.  We will continue work to phase out our dependence on products from endangered species primarily horseshoe crabs.  The blood of horseshoe crabs has been an important part of safety testing within the pharmaceutical sector, but harvesting of the blood can impact horseshoe crab populations. In response, we have stopped the use of products from endangered horseshoe crab species (Tachypleus sp.). We also have a plan, subject to regulatory approval of alternatives, to phase out the use of products from other species of horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus). 

Restoration is critical to both halting the loss of nature and creating a nature positive future. Collaboration and partnerships will be key to ensure real impact.

• Within value chain restoration: We focus on our most material impacts on nature at our sites, our dependence on water, and unavoidable impacts to habitats resulting through our expansion. We will contribute to partnership projects that help balance our impacts on water and biodiversity through taking restorative actions in the landscapes in which we operate.
  
  
• Beyond value chain restoration: We know that we have a global footprint, and source many raw materials with origins from around the world. We recognise the need to collaborate with partners on large-scale restoration projects and will work to develop a plan by the end of 2025 that helps to restore areas of nature relevant to our business. 

Reducing our pressure on nature, while also growing our business, will require innovation, long-term optimisations, and external partners. Finding new ways to make our products are essential to decoupling our business growth from our nature impacts. We want to find new ways to produce our products, and as a starting point, we are focusing on one of our most important raw materials, Glucose. By finding new ways to produce our products, we hope to find solutions that inspire others to also transform their approaches.

• Glucose optimization: By looking at how we can innovate the fermentation processes in our production,
• Glucose alternatives: By use of new technologies, alternative sources of feedstock for the fermentation processes can replace the use of glucose. Finding alternatives will not only support Novo Nordisk – but potentially have an impact for the entire industry using glucose as a part of the production today. Therefore, we are seeking to explore alternatives in close collaboration with other industry partners.