Water is a critical input to the production of our lifesaving medicines and lack of access to water is a risk for our business. Novo Nordisk is committed to providing patients with the best possible treatment while we strive to reduce our water impacts. However, more action is needed urgently, and thus we are developing our long-term strategy that will align our efforts with the Global Biodiversity Framework and mitigation hierarchy.
Water availability and water pollution are major global challenges for nature, biodiversity and humanity. Water, nature, and climate change are closely interrelated, however, water impacts must be addressed in the specific locations and water basins in which they occur.
Lack of water of sufficient quality poses a risk for business continuity and regulatory, physical, and reputational risk can impact our ability to operate. Therefore, it is crucial to pursue opportunities to improve water availability and quality, especially in areas with water stress or other water-related risks.
At our production sites, Novo Nordisk strives to make continuous improvement to use water more efficiently according to the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System. Our production sites work to optimize and consume less water per unit of output and to reuse and recycle water wherever possible. We are also working to better understand the water footprint of our current and future products to guide the product portfolio and support R&D of products that make more efficient use of water resources.
Contextual targets, particularly in water stressed and water risk areas will have a role to play to drive water use efficiency and the reuse of water at our sites. To gain a better understanding of local water basin conditions, we will explore water stewardship principles in water basins around our production sites. This means bringing together interested parties in the water basins where we operate to pool knowledge and resources to implement localized solutions to address shared freshwater challenges.
Novo Nordisk regularly monitors production discharge water quality which is treated in biological-chemical treatment plants and fully complies with local water quality standards and limits.
We screen our production sites and conduct water risk analyses using the World Resources institute, Aqueduct 4.0. Based on this assessment we know to prioritize and look deeper in areas subject to water stress. Novo Nordisk also make disclosures on water to CDP.
We have more work to uncover our material impacts on water throughout our value chain using the most representative water risk indicators and tools to prioritize locations, which will involve working with our suppliers on upstream water consumption and sourcing locations.