Novo Nordisk transports raw materials, products and waste by different means of transportation, as full or part loads, in containers, refrigerated trucks, and in bulk, etc. This illustrates the complexity of assessing the environmental impact of our transportation needs. However, a good start has been made in assessing the actual situation. Thanks to close cooperation with our road transport suppliers, especially in Denmark, we are obtaining more and more accurate data. In future, we will be using these figures to measure environmental performance so that pollution can be reduced.

The global transportation requirements now form part of the transport agreements made with strategic transport suppliers for road transport. On finalizing agreements with our strategic transport suppliers, great interest has been shown in improving the environment through emission assessment.

1998 target: Prepare control procedures to assess our transportation contractors' compliance with our environmental requirements within Europe.

The control procedure is now part of the transport agreements, so this target has been met. As part of the agreements, transport suppliers also provide important annual documentation of their environmental progress.

Status of 1998-99 target: Start evaluating and introducing methods for calculation of fuel consumption and emissions from transport by air, rail and sea.

Novo Nordisk cannot reach this target alone. It requires extensive cooperation with transport organizations and transport suppliers. We do not want to develop methods that are only used by Novo Nordisk. The methods should be developed and approved by transport contractors, trade organizations and purchasers of transport services.

Part of a project initiated by the Danish Ministry of Transport to reduce CO₂ emissions will include methods for the evaluation of transport by sea. Novo Nordisk will participate actively in this part of the project.

During 1999 we will concentrate particularly on extending the emission assessments for road transport, in cooperation with our transport suppliers. As for transport by air, our main target is to reduce volume. In cooperation with the transport supplier and airlines, we aim to find ways of assessing emissions, but we do not expect to reach this target during 1999. Transport by rail will be part of the assessment for combined transports, and we will await the assessment methods introduced by the trade organizations. In general, the aforementioned target is ongoing since extending and improving the assessment tools is a continuous process.

Status of 1998-99 target: All our plants worldwide are to adopt methods for evaluating the fuel consumption and emissions from road transport used for export and import.

Based on our practical experience in Europe, we will start transferring some of these methods to our other sites during 1999. Of course it is impossible to apply them directly and some adaptation will be needed.

New 1999-2000 target: Improve the methods for reporting emissions and use the results to reduce the environmental impact in cooperation with our transport suppliers.