The pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries are facing mounting pressure to reduce their environmental impact, particularly regarding Scope 3 emissions—the indirect emissions associated with the purchase of goods and services. My Green Lab’s Converge Supplier Initiative, launched in November 2023, addresses this challenge by providing a structured approach that helps organizations measure and reduce the environmental impact of their lab operations.
In this interview with Separation Science, James Swinyard, Director of Investments and Partnerships at My Green Lab, outlines how Converge is driving Scope 3 reductions for Pharma and Biotech, the progress that participating organizations are making, and the practical steps scientists can take to drive sustainability in their own laboratories.
What prompted the creation of the Converge Supplier Initiative?
An analysis conducted by My Green Lab and the Intercontinental Exchange revealed that healthcare accounts for 4.6% of global emissions, with biotech and pharma contributing 397 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO₂-e). Around 85% of these emissions can be attributed to Scope 3. Beyond carbon, the industry also faces significant challenges related to plastic waste, heavy water consumption, toxic chemical usage, low product longevity, and limited understanding of product manufacturing.
Converge was developed with My Green Lab and partner pharmaceutical and biotechnology organizations—AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, GSK, MilliporeSigma, Sanofi, Takeda, and UCB—to guide suppliers in scaling sustainable lab practices through the My Green Lab Certification.
How does Converge bring pharmaceutical companies and their suppliers together to drive measurable sustainability improvements?
Converge gives leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies a platform to engage their suppliers through the common My Green Lab Certification standard. Each pharma and biotech organization engaged in Converge has itself certified a significant portion of its laboratories with My Green Lab Certification, and has firsthand seen the benefits through significant carbon reductions and cost savings. This structure gives our partners the opportunity to share their successes and learnings with their suppliers, track their suppliers' sustainability progress, and ultimately quantify Scope 3 emission reductions.
Why are supplier-related emissions such an important focus area for sustainability in the life sciences?
Suppliers account for the vast majority of emissions in the pharmaceutical value chain. While pharmaceutical companies have reduced their Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions through facility upgrades, renewable energy sourcing, and lab optimization, their Scope 3 emissions are approximately six times higher than direct emissions. Reducing supplier-related emissions is crucial to meeting major climate commitments, including the UN’s Race to Zero and the 1.5°C targets outlined in the Paris Agreement.
How does Converge quantify sustainability improvements?
The Impact Estimator Tool, included with My Green Lab Certification, offers a defined method for evaluating energy efficiency, waste reduction, water conservation, green chemistry practices, and related emissions. The standardized approach helps suppliers generate verified third-party data that they can share with partners and use to track their own progress over time.
What kinds of changes have suppliers made that deliver the greatest environmental impact?
Common actions include improved maintenance and upgrades to ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezers, improving fume hood usage by closing the sash when the unit is not in use, and refining purchasing practices. These actions have led to measurable reductions in energy consumption and waste.
How do tools such as My Green Lab Certification, the Impact Estimator, and Converge support transparency and data-driven decision-making?
It’s difficult to improve what isn’t measured. My Green Lab Certification helps labs establish a baseline, implement changes, and track progress using real data and in real time. The Impact Estimator gives labs a clear “scoreboard” to measure their progress and motivate lab professionals toward continuous improvements. The Converge Initiative provides suppliers with an opportunity to meet their largest customers where they are at, providing transparency into their adoption of core sustainability initiatives. This transparent, data-driven approach fosters a virtuous cycle of improvement and peer-to-peer knowledge sharing.
For analytical scientists working in the pharmaceutical, biotech, or testing industries, what are the most direct implications of initiatives such as Converge?
Converge helps send a clear and unified message from major purchasers of lab services that My Green Lab Certification is a worthwhile program to pursue. My Green Lab Certification equips scientists with practical advice in 14 different sustainability areas. For example, actions such as defrosting, cleaning coils, and adjusting the temperature setpoint from -80°C to -70°C can significantly reduce energy consumption and extend the equipment's lifespan. Beyond freezer management, the certification covers other critical areas, including fume hood optimization, water conservation, green chemistry, and sustainable purchasing. All 14 topics provide clear, actionable steps that scientists can easily adopt into their daily work to achieve considerable environmental improvements.
How can sustainability be integrated into daily lab practices without compromising precision or quality?
While this is a common concern, the My Green Lab Certification aligns with International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards and is non-prescriptive, allowing scientists to select improvements that fit their workflows. Often, labs discover that sustainability actions enhance—not hinder—precision, productivity, and quality.
How does My Green Lab ensure credibility and avoid greenwashing?
The certification maintains the highest standards of rigor and quality. It aligns with ISO 14001, undergoes independent third-party verification, and is recognized by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Program. It was also selected by the UN’s Race to Zero campaign as the breakthrough outcome for MedTech and Pharma, and complies with global anti-greenwashing regulations such as the European Union’s Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive.
What level of transparency or data sharing is required to make collaboration effective?
Suppliers share only their certification status and impact estimator results. This limited but meaningful data provides pharma partners with insight into progress while keeping administrative work to a minimum.
How do you see supplier collaboration evolving, and what role might analytical chemists play in advancing measurable sustainability?
Supplier collaboration will shift toward unified sustainability expectations that replace today’s scattered and repetitive requests. Programs such as Converge will provide suppliers with a clear framework to follow, accelerating alignment and driving more consistent action across the industry.
Analytical chemists will play a key role in driving this progress. Their work in resource-intensive labs gives them direct influence over energy use, water use, material waste, better chemical selection, and daily processes. When they adopt and champion proven sustainable practices, they generate measurable reductions and set standards that peers within their organization and at labs outside it can mirror. Their leadership will drive practical and scalable improvements throughout the pharmaceutical supply chain.