“We really have a tough target of cutting emissions by 50% by 2030—we need to understand the right path with our suppliers”
Nataša Vidmar, SVP and Chief Procurement Officer at AstraZeneca, delivered a clear message at the PSCI Decarbonization Summit: sustainability is now a sourcing imperative. The panel represented approximately $100 billion in combined external spend. For suppliers, the implications are direct—decarbonization performance impacts competitiveness.
Nataša joined Sirsij Peshin, Chief Procurement Officer at Pfizer; Insub Song, Vice President at Samsung Biologics; and Sarah Ouanhnon, Head of Net Zero Delivery for the Greener NHS Programme. All four bring extensive procurement and sustainability experience across pharmaceutical and healthcare organizations.
The panel shared how major buyers are embedding science-based targets into procurement decisions, supporting supplier transitions, and making sustainability a competitive differentiator.
AstraZeneca’s three-pillar approach: top-down commitment, supplier support, and preferred supplier status
Nataša outlined how AstraZeneca avoids sending conflicting messages to suppliers. The company drives sustainability top-down, provides structural support, and ensures sustainable suppliers become preferred suppliers.
“What’s important for us at AstraZeneca is that we are driving sustainability top down,” Nataša said. “It doesn’t come only from a sustainability team or only from procurement, but really throughout the business.”
Since 2024, AstraZeneca has incorporated science-based targets and emissions reduction plans into their global supplier scorecard. Business units and procurement work together on these metrics.
The scale of impact is significant. Approximately 10% of all companies registered with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) are AstraZeneca suppliers.
AstraZeneca provides comprehensive support including a dedicated supplier sustainability hub, regular newsletters, training sessions, and one-on-one engagement as part of business reviews. “Our suppliers are our partners. They are incredibly important to us,” Nataša said. “We segment them and align expectations, but also provide support accordingly.”
The final element is making sustainability a formal criterion. “Only suppliers who share the same values in terms of sustainability can be on our preferred suppliers list,” she said. This means sustainability is embedded in RFPs, tender criteria, and contract clauses.
PSCI chair Robert Williams spoke at CDMO Live 2025 about the importance of Science-Based Targets to the contract manufacturing sector. Listen to the podcast recording here:
Pfizer assigns up to 20% of supplier selection criteria to sustainability
Sirsij explained how Pfizer leverages procurement’s position to drive change across the value chain. The company has developed a maturity model to assess supplier sustainability performance.
“Procurement leaders are in a unique and very powerful position to drive that change by influencing and aligning the value chain,” Sirsij said. Pfizer assigns up to 20% weighting to sustainability in supplier selection criteria. This is substantial enough to impact supplier competitiveness.
“Clients are under increasing pressure from regulators, investors, and patients to act decisively,” Sirsij noted. “That’s why we are working with clients to identify and reduce lifecycle emissions.”
Pfizer frames decarbonization as a business imperative. “Decarbonization makes business more efficient and resilient,” Sirsij said. The company views climate action as essential to future-proofing operations and maintaining competitive advantage.
Samsung Biologics positions decarbonization as a CDMO competitive differentiator
Insub brought the CDMO perspective. Samsung Biologics faces sustainability requirements from multiple pharmaceutical clients, making industry alignment critical.
“The climate crisis is not a future challenge—it’s already here,” Insub said. “Clients are under increasing pressure from regulators, investors, and patients to act decisively.”
Samsung Biologics recognizes that their clients’ scope 3 emissions are their scope 1 and 2 emissions. Their sustainability performance directly impacts clients’ ability to meet climate targets.
“We place clear expectations with our partners and suppliers and embed carbon reduction into supplier selection criteria,” Insub said. “What gets measured gets better—that’s why we decided we have to do this right now.”
Insub emphasized that decarbonization drives business transformation. “Decarbonization makes business more efficient, resilient, and competitive,” he said.
NHS England: decarbonization is unavoidable, but collaboration is essential
Sarah provided the customer perspective. As one of the world’s largest healthcare systems, NHS England uses its purchasing power to drive systemic change.
“The key is to see this as an opportunity,” Sarah said. “It can be an opportunity to save money with more efficient processes and cheaper energy.”
The NHS approach recognizes that climate action and healthcare quality connect directly. “For us as health systems, it’s also an opportunity to provide better care, which is at the end of the day what we all care about,” Sarah explained.
Sarah highlighted collaborative initiatives already underway, including inhaler recycling and medical device reuse programs. “We are really aware of this need for collaboration,” she said. “As health systems, we are open and looking forward to working on all of this together.”
She was direct about the inevitability of this trend. “I would say it’s also unavoidable. Climate change—countries have committed. If you look at the Alliance from the WHO, you have almost 100 health countries that have committed to climate resilience and low carbon health systems.”
The NHS works to create alignment rather than complexity. “We’re trying to align with other health systems so we don’t create unnecessary burden, but actually all work in the same direction,” Sarah said.
Her conclusion: “There’s no other way. But it’s not about doing it alone. It’s about identifying how we can better work together.”
Sustainability joins quality, cost, and compliance as procurement criteria
One question emerged repeatedly: How do you balance sustainability with traditional procurement criteria like price and quality?
Nataša addressed this directly. “We have criteria for supplier selection—quality, cost, compliance, sustainability. We really have a tough target of cutting emissions by 50% by 2030, and we need to understand the right path with our suppliers to cut their emissions accordingly. So it’s absolutely a criteria in any selection for us.”
Sustainability is not replacing traditional criteria—it’s joining them as an equally important factor. Leading pharmaceutical companies assign meaningful weight to sustainability performance (up to 20% in some cases, as Sirsij noted) and make it a requirement for preferred supplier status.
Sustainable suppliers often deliver better quality, reliability, and resilience—all critical attributes in pharmaceutical supply chains.
What this means for suppliers
For suppliers, several clear messages emerged:
1. Science-based targets are becoming table stakes. Major pharmaceutical buyers increasingly expect suppliers to have SBTi-approved targets or be working toward them.
2. Sustainability performance affects competitiveness. With leading companies assigning up to 20% of supplier selection criteria to sustainability, climate performance directly impacts the ability to win business.
3. Support is available. Organizations like Pfizer, AstraZeneca and PSCI itself provide resources, training, and one-on-one guidance to help suppliers navigate sustainability requirements.
4. Collaboration reduces complexity. Industry alignment through initiatives like PSCI helps prevent conflicting requirements from different customers.
5. The trend is accelerating. With major health systems like NHS England committing to net-zero targets and nearly 100 countries committed to climate-resilient health systems through WHO initiatives, sustainability requirements will intensify.
“This collaboration with our peers is incredibly important,” Nataša said. “When we align together with our peers on joint targets and expectations, we help our suppliers. We are trying to be consistent, support them, and eventually reward them.”
Simon noted in his opening remarks: “Our scope 3 is somebody else’s scope 1 and 2.” This interdependence means no single company can solve the problem alone. It requires industry-wide collaboration, aligned standards, and shared commitments.
The PSCI Decarbonization Summit represents this collaborative approach. With 85 members worldwide representing approximately 70% of the pharmaceutical industry and $1.2 trillion in aggregate revenue, PSCI provides a forum for shared learning and collective action on sustainability challenges.
