Environmental, social and governance (ESG)
Our initiatives
At Axplora, environmental, social, and corporate governance initiatives are an essential part of our company strategy. Through our ESG program, which coordinates and amplifies our actions, we focus on developing Axplora’s sustainability and attractiveness to our stakeholders, including our employees, customers and investors ; we remain attentive to their evolving expectations and continually adapt to meet these goals.
Based on our sector’s priority issues – health, safety and climate change – we have clarified our ambitions and defined the major areas for action to be implemented and monitored on our industrial production sites: the safety goal of Zero accidents , and a commitment to effectively reducing our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through targeted decarbonization actions in our production processes.
Françoise Durand-Rivoire, Global Head of ESG:
“For me, the challenges around environmental, social and corporate governance are, first, ensuring sustainability of the group while limiting our impact on ecosystems, and also developing Axplora’s attractiveness for our stakeholders – our employees, our customers and our investors – all of which support the development of patient care.”
Health and Safety
As a part of the pharmaceutical value chain, it is our responsibility to ensure the safety of people in and around our industrial sites, to respect our environment and that of our neighbors. We track specific safety indicators on our sites, such as the total number of accidents that result in lost time for employees (“TF1”) and accidents without lost time (“TF2”). In 2022 we recorded a 13% decrease in TF1 and a 10% decrease in TF2 compared to 2021. Initiatives such as professional development courses, QHSE days, and gemba walks* are among the recurring actions we organize on our production sites with the “Zero accident” objective in mind.
*Industrial site walk-through visits by internal managers to identify problems and deviations, according to a set of rules and good practices put in place to ensure safety.
Climate Change & Energy Management
As a leading API partner, we are focused on reducing our GHG emissions and the impact of our operations on the planet, in terms of both climate and biodiversity. To support our environmental and energy goals, we have made two commitments by choosing:
- Renewable energies and the continuous improvement of energy consumption
- Innovative green processes and technologies that allow us to reduce our environmental impact, such as continuous flow chemistry
Among the actions already in place: 60% of the Group’s total electricity consumption is renewable – making a positive change for our planet.
Waste Management
As a manufacturer of APIs, we pay special attention to reducing the amount of waste we produce, as well as improving recycling and reuse of our resources in support of an efficient circular economy. A concrete example is the 99.97% solvent recycling rate of our omega-3 purification plant at our Mourenx site.
Water Management
Axplora is committed to reducing our water consumption and preserving water quality. In our water management policy, we define our main commitments:
- Optimizing total water consumption
- Regular monitoring of water quality
Diversity & Inclusion
Axplora supports social inclusion by taking into account the principle of equity. Applicants and employees must therefore receive fair treatment in hiring, in their contracts and working conditions, and in staff training and career development. At Axplora, we are convinced that the diversity of talents is a strength and that it is conducive to creativity that all companies need. We recruit from a wide range of backgrounds and experience levels, from interns and students in training to senior profiles with extensive experience. Multidirectional knowledge transmission is an integral part of how we work. Women and men are at the heart of it all, with adapted training plans to support their professional development.
In 2022, 24% of Axplora’s employees were women, and 31% held management positions.
The average gender index in 2022 (calculated for our French sites) reflects a strong trend towards parity and equal treatment between sexes.
Our employees also represent a diversity of cultural and geographical backgrounds (Germany, France, India, Italy, USA, and many more!) and Axplora’s extended Executive Committee includes 9 different nationalities.
Visit the Management Team page to learn more about the members of our diverse Executive Committee.
Inclusion and diversity are top priorities for Axplora’s CEO, Dr. Sylke Hassel. In her remarks during the “Women in science” roundtable in March 2023, she shared her ideas on the industry and the place of women alongside other women who are renowned scientists in the pharmaceutical industry.
To join one of Axplora teams, start by checking out our job offers.
Sustainable supplier management
In our role within the pharmaceutical supply chain and with the well-being of patients defining our purpose, Axplora is committed to a sustainable relationship of trust with our partners to secure our purchases and comply with environmental, social and corporate governance standards with our suppliers.