Sustainability

Novo Nordisk is committed to sustainable development and balanced growth. The principles of sustainable development – to preserve the planet while improving the quality of life for its current and future inhabitants – resonate well with the philosophy upon which the company was founded and how it does business today.

The Triple Bottom Line is how Novo Nordisk has chosen to interpret its commitment to sustainable development. It is built into the corporate governance structures, management tools, individual performance assessments and reward schemes.

In Novo Nordisk’s Articles of Association it is stated as the objectives that the company ‘strives to conduct its activities in a financially, environmentally and socially responsible way’. This implies that any decision should always seek to balance three considerations: Is it economically viable? Is it socially responsible? And is it environmentally sound? This ensures that decision-making balances financial growth with corporate responsibility, short-term gains with long-term profitability and shareholder return with other stakeholder interests.

Through demonstrating a company wide commitment to Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR) in the UK between 2006 and 2009, backed by evidence of collaboration and partnership between business and community organisations, Novo Nordisk UK was announced winner of the Nordic-UK 2010 CSR award, Hospted by government organisation UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) held at the London Stock Exchange on 04 March 2010.

Our corporate sustainability priorities are:

Access to health: We believe it is part of our role as a responsible corporate citizen to engage as partners with a wide range of stakeholders in the developing countries to further the care and treatment of diabetes.

Responsible business practices: Acting with integrity in the market place is paramount to earn trust and win stakeholders’ confidence. It also drives performance and sparks innovation across the value chain. We have a number of programmes to ensure we remain a responsible business which includes: responsible sourcing, having a comprehensive business ethics policy which includes being transparent in all our activities and collaborating with patient groups.

Our people: The realisation of Novo Nordisk’s vision and strategic objectives depends on many things, but most of all on our people. By offering an exciting workplace with a strong values-driven culture, the opportunity to save people’s lives, to make a difference in society, and to grow personally and professionally Novo Nordisk offers an employer value proposition that differentiates the company. The company have several programmes that focus on giving back to communities from engaging people in a wide variety of activities to offering a responsible workplace. These include our employee volunteer programme TakeAction!,  our employee health programme NovoHealth, our diversity strategy and our commitment to health and safety.

Environment and climate change: Novo Nordisk has been focusing on its use of resources, emissions, waste and legal compliance since 1975. Even though environmental reporting, target-setting and improvement measures have for years been an integral way of how we do business, we are still able to reduce our environmental footprint. Going forward, more emphasis will be placed on pollution prevention through sustainable design of processes and products.

Communities: Community engagement is embedded in Novo Nordisk's history and values. It involves a respectful weighing of business interests against those of stakeholders and society, a balancing of short-term and long-term interests. Novo Nordisk’s community engagement can take many forms. It may be employees volunteering their time and resources for community work or company investments in infrastructure, or activities to raise awareness about healthy living and lifestyle-related health risks.

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