Sustainability at Capsules & Health Ingredients

Our sustainability initiatives are guided by, and aligned to, seven of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals

We have structured our approach to sustainability by focusing on the seven United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) that are most relevant to our business. Topics range from energy and water actions, to people development, gender equality and customer satisfaction. We strive to achieve net-zero by 2050 or earlier and reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions by more than 40% by the end of 2030.

We have also signed a letter of commitment and submitted our targets to the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). Across several of our sites, we are actively investing in energy-efficient equipment, implementing projects to capture waste energy and installing on-site renewable energy equipment, like photovoltaic panels and biomass boilers.

As part of our strategy to decrease our environmental footprint, we have implemented ‘sustainability by design’ standards for energy and water efficiency, which enables us to build growth projects with best-in-class sustainable technologies.

*Scope 1 emissions represent direct emissions from Lonza-owned or controlled sources.
*Scope 2 emissions represent indirect emissions from the generation of energy purchased by Lonza.

We design sustainability into our entire value chain

For us, responsible sourcing means a commitment to upholding the highest social, environmental and governance standards when making sourcing decisions. Our procurement team develops responsible sourcing strategies and our Responsible Sourcing Program is driven by our commitment to SDG12 (Responsible Consumption and Production). This program aims to help our suppliers evaluate their ESG performance and address their improvement areas, by identifying their sustainability risk and decarbonization maturity level. The suppliers’ respective risk and level comprise important criteria in selecting and evaluating our business relationships. Together with our suppliers, we are further shaping our collaborative approach and driving this process forward.

By 2028, we expect that suppliers representing 90% of our expenditure will have a sustainability score, while at least 67% of our Scope 3 emissions will originate from suppliers with science-based targets.

*Scope 3 emissions represent all indirect emissions that occur in the value chain of a business, including both up- and downstream emissions.

 We have further strengthened the collaboration with our suppliers and value chain partners for the assurance of ethics and compliance and for the reduction of Scope 3 emissions. 

— Jean-Christophe Hyvert, President, Capsules & Health Ingredients (CHI)

Click below for a deep dive interview on Responsible Sourcing and Manufacturing by our expert Christine Lebeault, Head of Applied Sustainability, Lonza Capsules & Health Ingredients.

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Within all our process and product innovation we strive to achieve sustainability by design

Our next generation capsule manufacturing technology will significantly reduce our net carbon footprint whilst increasing productivity and setting a new quality standard. Demonstrating industry leading standards can be delivered while making a positive impact on the environment.

At our site in Bornem, Belgium, we have established a process to re-use 100% of our waste gelatin. First, we aim to upcycle gelatin by-products from our manufacturing process in subsequent capsule production, however, a small volume of this cannot be re-used without compromising on quality. This material is therefore sent to biomethanisation plants where it is used in the production of biogas, or distributed to other manufacturing industries.

In Colmar, France, we have adapted our processes to use steam from the city's network. This uses heat recovery from waste treatment to provide steam to local businesses.