Environment

During the development and production phases of our products, we seek to minimise our impact on the environment by, for instance, constantly trying to reduce waste, wastewater and emissions to the air, as well as the use of critical hazardous substances.

As a globally operating company, Boehringer Ingelheim strives for continuous improvement by setting itself high standards at all sites, often exceeding national legal requirements.

All Boehringer Ingelheim sites manage environmental protection on the basis of internationally acknowledged systems; the majority of chemical production sites is certified in accordance with the ISO 14001 standard. The environmental management system ensures the optimisation of all environment-related processes for minimizing energy use, emissions, waste and water use. The efficiency of management systems and compliance with all local requirements is monitored and confirmed on the basis of regularly conducted internal and external audits. In everyday business certain projects and the performance of single sites are managed using key performance indicator systems (e.g. energy use).

Boehringer Ingelheim has identified the issues of carbon dioxide emissions and reduction of energy use as strategic areas for action. We seek to minimize our carbon footprint and have set a new objective to reduce our CO2 equivalent emissions (relative to sales volume, excluding emissions from patient use of inhaler products) by 20% by 2020 (base year 2010).

We expect our local units to develop individual programmes for improving environmental protection and for promoting a sense of responsibility at all Boehringer Ingelheim sites.

A variety of events at local sites are designed to increase our employees' awareness of environmental topics. These events and trainings at Boehringer Ingelheim sites are regularly covered by publications, such as "Mensch & Umwelt" (ed. Man & Environment) in Germany, informing employees about environmental issues and fostering environmental awareness.

BE GREEN

The relevance of environmental protection is expressed in the initiative BE GREEN, which was started in 2011. The aim is to bundle, coordinate and optimise all "green" activities, at the same time identifying goals and strengthening environmental awareness.

Details

More information on measures, activities and data for the following issues can be found here:

• Energy consumption and emissions to air
• Water consumption and emissions to water
• Waste disposal