AstraZeneca, often at the forefront of biopharma's sustainability efforts, is making a big play to support renewable natural gas in its home country.
Through a 100 million pound sterling ($124 million), 15-year commitment with U.K. clean energy provider Future Biogas, the partners plan to establish the first "unsubsidised industrial-scale supply of biomethane gas" in the U.K., AstraZeneca said in a release.
With the deal, AZ will have access to enough renewable natural gas to supply around 8,000 homes. The renewable natural gas will help power AZ's Macclesfield, Cambridge, Luton and Speke sites by early 2025.
Once operational, the biomethane facility will use locally grown crops as feedstock, supporting farms and initiating the development of a “circular agricultural economy,” AZ said.
AZ’s Macclesfield facility is the U.K.’s largest drug development and manufacturing site. The site will undergo a “major refit” of its heat and power plant to slash emissions.
The partners hope the move will provide a blueprint for other organizations looking to scale up renewable natural gas and cut emissions.
As for AstraZeneca, the company aims to halve its carbon footprint by 2030 and become net-zero by 2045 "at the latest." And the partnership with Future Biogas is only one of AZ's recent sustainability efforts.
Earlier this summer, the company expanded its AZ Forest program with a $400 million investment that it will use to establish new or expanded forestry programs in Brazil, India, Vietnam, Ghana and Rwanda.
Then in June, AZ linked up with U.S. renewable natural gas (RNG) producer Vanguard Renewables to use RNG at its Newark, Delaware, campus. That deal will bring the equivalent of energy resources needed to heat more than 17,800 U.S. homes for a year.
And last month, the eco-minded company partnered with European renewable energy provider Stratkraft on wind power deliveries to increase Sweden’s supply of renewable electricity. In that deal, AZ agreed to buy 200 gigawatt-hours per year for 10 years, which corresponds to roughly 80% of the company’s total electricity needs at its Gothenburg research facility and its Södertälje manufacturing plant.