From global to local: how we’re driving sustainability at CPI

Launched 24 years ago, the UNGC calls on organisations worldwide to contribute to a more sustainable world. It outlines 10 principles for businesses to follow and shared strategies to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Through our pioneering projects, we have a strong track record of developing game-changing clean technologies, improving patient health outcomes and making industrial processes more efficient. 

By engaging with the UNGC, we are embedding sustainable principles at the very heart of our organisation. This commitment allows us to continue delivering groundbreaking innovations, protecting ecosystems and empowering local communities. 

The journey to net zero is challenging, especially for an organisation like ours that operates across multiple resource-intensive industries. We manage a network of innovation centres across the UK, all equipped with state-of-the-art machinery that is typically energy-intensive. Additionally, our reliance on global supply chains for critical raw materials adds complexity to transitioning to net zero, but we’re making steps to achieve it. 

Bridging the green gap

As we focus on our own efforts to reach net zero, we are also working across industry to make an impact at every level of our business. 

Our Grand Challenge programmes unite industry and academia to tackle fundamental issues in medicines manufacturing. Healthcare accounts for 4.4% of global carbon emissions, with the pharmaceutical industry being a major contributor. Therefore, there is an urgent need to produce drugs in a more resource- and energy-efficient way throughout the supply chain. 

From smart bioprocessing to continuous tablet production, each project is developing innovative manufacturing processes with the potential for massive energy savings — up to 69%. Our materials teams are also pioneering sustainable solutions, from longer-lasting EV batteries to alternative proteins.

We’re extending our efforts beyond the UK to our wider supply chains. We are collaborating with the Indian pharma industry, which supplies 25% of the UK’s medicines, to implement greener manufacturing processes. As part of the UK-India Net Zero Innovation Virtual Centre, we’re bringing together a unique coalition of UK and Indian policymakers, R&D companies, start-ups, investors, research groups, and Catapults to tackle this important challenge. 

As we also look inward, we’ve installed solar panels across several of our sites to generate clean energy, increased the number of EV charging points, and implemented an EV salary sacrifice scheme for our colleagues. Starting with our senior leaders, we’ve rolled out IEMA environmental training to share knowledge of energy-saving and resource-efficiency best practices throughout our teams. At the organisational level, we’re deploying new tools to standardise how we report and record our emission data, supporting our mission to be open and transparent about our journey. 

From tackling industry challenges to running our sites more efficiently, we’re exploring every opportunity to drive sustainability across our operations. 

Empowering people

Sustainability is also about caring for the environment and the people who live in it. This is another crucial part of our commitment to being a sustainable organisation. 

Much of our work is driven by the goal of improving people’s lives. Whether it’s wearable medical devices that make life easier for stroke survivors and amputees or game-changing RNA therapeutics, our pharma projects are improving patient outcomes. We also support projects with far-reaching impacts, like refining communication networks to deliver education in remote locations or integrating biosensors into sportswear to optimise performance.

Leading by example is important to us. That’s why we’re reaching out to our local communities in the North of England and Scotland to maximise our impact. 

We’re investing in people, creating highly skilled jobs, and nurturing the next generation of innovators through school visits, apprenticeships, and work placements. We’re collaborating with universities, government, and professional associations to ensure they have the skills needed to tackle today’s and tomorrow’s biggest challenges. 

We’re also unleashing our team’s passion and dedication. Last year, our CPI Boost programme helped colleagues direct funding to local initiatives close to their hearts. This year, we took it a step further with ​‘Giving Back Week,’ which saw over 150 employees give up their time to spend a day supporting their local communities. Activities included planting trees, cleaning riverbeds, restoring farms, painting rooms within hospices, and providing IT training to volunteers. 

Twenty years ago, CPI was set up to make an impact, and I truly believe we are achieving that goal. Through sustainable innovations, medical breakthroughs, and community support, we take pride in the difference we’ve made and our ongoing journey to create a better world.