Takeda has amped up its net-zero plans, joining a growing group of Big Pharma companies making ambitious environmental commitments.
The Japanese drugmaker has broken ground on a $14 million expansion of its Singapore manufacturing facility, marking the first “net zero carbon emissions” building to be part of its global network.
The building will meet Singapore’s Green Mark Zero Energy certification guidelines and is aligned with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. The company, which didn't disclose which manufacturing operations will be conducted in the new structure, expects the building to be ready for occupancy sometime next year.
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Among the features of Takeda's project will be more than 660 solar panels that will fully offset the structure’s energy consumption along with a hybrid air-conditioning system with ceiling fans and thermal diffusers to optimize energy usage and improve air circulation and air flow in combating the hot, humid local conditions. The building will also harvest rainwater and use “green” concrete.
The pharma giant employs about 650 workers throughout all its operations in Singapore that include the Woodlands manufacturing facility as well as its Asia-Pacific headquarters, its Singapore branch office, a development center and its growth and emerging markets unit.
Several other pharma companies have made environmental commitments in the last two years, including GlaxoSmithKline, Biogen, Novartis, AstraZeneca and Novo Nordisk.
“Takeda achieved carbon neutrality in 2020, now we are focused on our next step to become net zero by 2040,” Thomas Wozniewski, Takeda’s global manufacturing and supply officer, said in a statement.