Sustainability In Industrial Construction

Introduction: Sustainability in the Pharmaceutical Industry

The pharmaceutical industry plays an essential role in human health, researching, developing, and providing life-saving medication & innovative solutions to meet the ever evolving and changing health needs of global populations.

Meeting these demands, like with many industries, comes at a cost and an environmental impact that can perhaps be described as a "bitter pill to swallow".

Measures are needed to both understand and mitigate the environmental impact of pharmaceutical manufacturing. Sustainable construction, with Green Building Certified Buildings, can play an important role in supporting the assessment and documentation of measures aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions of construction projects.

Environmental Impact of the Pharmaceutical Industry

According to a recent study into greenhouse gas emissions (Lancet Planet Health 2025; 9: e129-206) the global greenhouse gas footprint of the final pharmaceutical expenditure has increased by 77% from 136.7 tons CO2e in 1995 to 242 tons CO2e in 2019 (1.).

• Manufacturing processes are both energy and water intensive. Waste handling of chemicals and packaging is challenging and waste difficult to recycle due to, for example, purity requirements of pharmaceuticals and packaging materials.

• Cleanroom Environments, which ensure the high purity requirements of the manufactured products are met, add to the energy burden and water consumption of the processes. The operational footprint of clean rooms increases proportionally with the classification of the suite (2.).

Measures to Mitigate the Impact

There are a number of measures and approaches to help reduce and improve the emissions due to facility construction. Some examples are:

• Transitioning to energy from renewable and fossil free sources by integrating solar panels, wind turbines, or other renewables for on-site clean energy (3.).

• Digitalization, integrating improved monitoring and analytics and applying SMART technologies helps facilities to become more efficient reducing energy consumption (2.).

• Integrating sustainable construction materials into the building design with Environmental Product Declarations and Life Cycle Assessments to show the CO2 footprint.

• Conserving water by making use of closed loop water systems and re-using wastewater.

• Reducing waste as far as possible considering the limiting factors of the process requirements.

• Designing for natural light and ventilation.

Green Building Certification

Green Building Schemes, such as LEED and BREEAM, set out and define measures to assess the environmental impact of a building / construction project where a focus on energy usage and performance as well as water consumption can be assessed. Hilti firestop products can contribute to selected criteria within Green Building certification schemes with:

• Third party verified EPDs

• VOC Emission and Content certificates

• C2C Material Health Certificates

• Red List Free Confirmation (according to the Living Building Challenge list)

• DGNB, QNG Statements

• BVB and Baubook Österreich approval

These certificates and statements help to achieve and contribute towards additional points in LEED, BREEAM, DGNB, LBC and WELL certified building projects as well as supporting projects in Sweden (BVB) and Austria (Baubook Österreich).

Cleanroom

In addition, firestop products have been tested and fulfil l requirements according to ISO14644-1 criteria, confirming their applicability (depending on product type and project specific requirements) to be used within Cleanroom requirements. Certificates can be provided upon request.

Further Information

Product information and certificates can be found on the product pages on www.hilti.com Details about the Sustainability Strategy can be found on our Sustainability company page. https://www.hilti.com/content/hilti/W1/US/en/company/company/about-hilti/sustainability.html

References

(1.) The greenhouse gas emissions of pharmaceutical consumption and production: an input - output analysis over time and across global supply chains Rosalie H Hagenaars, Reinout Heijungs, Arjan de Koning, Arnuld Tukker, Ranran Wang

(2.) Environmental Sustainability in Biopharmaceutical Facility Design William Whitford, Emily Herrernan, PE, Aoife Kelly

(3.) Biopharmaceutical Facility Design for Sustainability: A Comprehensive Overview Kate Williamson, Editorial Team, Pharma Focus Europe