Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has joined the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) by committing to reduce its use of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, by 2035.

The SBTi is a partnership between CDP (a global non-profit working with companies and governments on GHGs and to safeguard natural resources), the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI), and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

The SBTi has approved Glenmark’s commitment to reduce its absolute scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 35 per cent by the financial year 2035 (from 2021), the company said.

“The target boundary includes biogenic land‐related emissions and removals from bioenergy feedstock. The approval also extends to our pledge to reduce scope 3 GHG emissions from purchased goods and services, fuel- and energy-related activities, downstream transportation and distribution, and investments by 28 per cent per tonne of pharmaceutical products within the same timeframe,” it added.

Glenmark is the second Indian pharmaceutical company to receive this approval (after Dr Reddy’s Laboratories). The company was certified through a five-stage review, it said.

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Climate action

The SBTi “drives ambitious climate action” in the private sector by helping companies set science-based emission reduction targets in line with the Paris Agreement goals — “limiting global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C.”

Glenn Saldanha, Chairman and Managing Director, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, said, “This certification gives us an impetus to further pursue our ESG goals, while also benchmarking us at a global scale.”

More than 4,000 businesses around the world work with SBTi, according to its website.