Sustainable procurement
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Our approach to sustainable procurement:
Pushing the boundaries of science to deliver life-changing medicines in a way that is respectful of our planet.
Sustainable Procurement embeds responsible sourcing practices in end-to- end procurement processes and promotes ethical behaviour among our suppliers. Our ambition is to achieve 100% ethical spend, ensuring we only work with suppliers that share our Values. Our approach fosters our suppliers’ progress on sustainability, enables us to innovate together on challenges and accelerates supplier diversity.
As part of our sustainability commitment and to support suppliers in achieving our expectations, we are partnering across the industry to set consistent standards. We are providing tools and solutions to support the sustainability and decarbonisation of our sector. These initiatives include the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) Health Systems Task Force, Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Initiative (PSCI), Energize, EcoVadis Responsible Health Initiative and Activate.
Our focus areas
Decarbonising the supply chain
Our Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions account for 97% of our global emissions footprint. To address these emissions, we are driving deep decarbonisation across our value chain. Our suppliers play an important role in helping us progress toward our science-based target to halve our entire value chain emissions footprint by 2030, on the way to net zero by 2045. We expect our suppliers to commit to science-based targets aligned to limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5C. For more information see our Ambition Zero Carbon.
100% ethical spend
We are accountable for understanding the impact of our entire value chain to make a positive impact on workforces, communities and the environment that they affect. Through our Positive Sourcing Program our ambition is to achieve 100% ethical spend, and we partner with EcoVadis to assess our suppliers’ environmental, ethical, and social performance. For our ESG rankings and ratings see our Recognitions. Certain materials in our direct supply chain require targeted approaches to drive change, including materials of natural origin, for which we have developed our Raw Materials Responsible Sourcing Framework.
Supplier diversity
Our Supplier Diversity Programme maximises opportunities for small and diverse businesses to be part of our value chain and enables growth. It supports local economies through job opportunities, mentorship schemes and accelerator programs, making a positive socio-economic impact by supporting local business growth. We expect our suppliers to have Inclusion and Diversity goals and policies, and a supplier diversity programme in place to increase spend with these businesses.
Our ambition
By 2025:
95% SBTi-verified
10 new countries
12 Key Raw Materials
Our achievements
10
707
>70%
*As at end December 2023. Source: Sustainability Report 2023
Further information
Information for suppliers
Supporting you with onboarding, purchasing and invoicing as we work together to build a sustainable supply chain.
Supplier diversity
We seek to create positive societal impact by spreading the benefits of our value chain throughout local communities.
Sustainability at AstraZeneca
We believe that a healthy people, a healthy society and a healthy planet are interconnected and that together we must build a sustainable future.