Partner Profile

Roche Group U.S. Affiliates
Location	Basel, Switzerland
Goal	Roche Group U.S. Affiliates pledges to reduce total U.S. GHG emissions by 13 percent from 2008 to 2013. Roche achieved its second goal by reducing total U.S. GHG emissions by 18 percent from 2001 to 2010. Roche achieved its initial goal by reducing total U.S. GHG emissions by 11 percent from 2001 to 2006.
Environmental Web Site
Company Description The Roche Group is a global market leader in diagnostics and, as a leading supplier of prescription medicines in selected therapeutic areas such as oncology, virology and transplantation, one of the world's top ten pharmaceutical companies. Roche's U.S. operations mirror the global Roche Group's focus on the two pillars of diagnostics and pharmaceuticals, which address the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease. The U.S. Affiliates employ more than 15,000 people engaged in research, development, manufacturing, marketing, sales and administration. "Roche is constantly seeking to identify and implement best practices, benchmarking with the best of the best through our membership in the Global Environmental Management Initiative and charter membership on the World Business Council on Sustainable Development. We are focused on meeting our goal while continuing to deliver strong returns to our shareholders. We look forward to working with the EPA on the Climate Leaders Initiative and to being a part of this important process to reduce emissions." - Jack Kace, Vice President, Environment & Safety
Reasons for Joining Climate Leaders Participation in the Climate Leaders program is just one component of Roche's strong commitment to the principles of sustainable development. This commitment has been recognized by the company's listing on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index as well as the FTSE4Good Index Series. When Roche established a worldwide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction target, the opportunity for the U.S. Affiliates to join together as a Climate Leaders partner to set an emissions target became clear. While the U.S. sites were already engaged in energy efficiency and reporting annual emissions internally, additional benefits of Climate Leaders partnership were identified: • Establishing a GHG inventory in accordance with the U.S. EPA's approved emission factors, conversion factors, and emissions boundaries. • Creating a lasting public record of Roche's emission reductions as climate change policy continues to unfold. • Demonstrating Roche's environmental leadership and the business case for proactive GHG management. Jack Kace, VP of Corporate Environmental & Safety Affairs, explains: "It was a no brainer for us. We have been actively working to reduce energy consumption and emissions for years. It is part of maximizing returns to shareholders. Joining Climate Leaders enabled us to harmonize our emissions inventory with an EPA approved protocol, publicly register early reductions, share best practices with other environmental leaders, and continue to illustrate the business case for proactive environmental management."
GHG Reductions Before Joining Climate Leaders Roche's aggressive 10 percent absolute reduction goal will be very challenging given the early reductions achieved before the company's base year of 2001. Three facilities in California survived the state's energy crisis by achieving drastic reductions, including over 30 percent reductions in electric and gas usage at two sites. In addition, Roche was an early adopter of cogeneration, which led to large-scale GHG reductions. Viewing early-action as an opportunity, Roche is now working to leverage this experience by sharing these successes with other Roche facilities. Energy savings calculations from two leading facilities show annual savings of over $7 million for energy projects which began in the late 1990s and continue today. These savings are a result of implementing over 10 megawatts of cogeneration, "free cooling" systems, building controls, efficient lighting systems, compressed air upgrades, night time setbacks, and a variety of other initiatives.
Approach to GHG Management The Climate Leaders reporting process increased the level of detail in Roche's inventory while synchronizing it with the Climate Leaders GHG Inventory Guidance. The existing reporting process did not use the same emission boundaries, emission factors, and conversion factors. In addition, the on-site visit from the EPA contributed to the enhanced level of detail and further verified our process and data. Roche was actually the first in its industry to have its Environmental, Health & Safety data verified by a third party, so the EPA's onsite visit served as additional assurance. Roche has a decentralized organizational structure which empowers decision makers at the local level. From a management perspective, the strategy has been to focus on increasing technology and best practice transfer between sites, which previously were not well connected on energy opportunities. Roche conducts quarterly conference calls to share projects and practices, and introduce new ideas and services, such as additional EPA assistance for landfill methane and CHP projects. Each call is followed up with an "energy update" to summarize the call and provide links to internal & external resources, such as the results of another site's energy survey, or a best practice from LABS 21 on energy recovery. In Spring 2006, Roche will hold its first internal Energy Conference for the U.S. Roche's commitment to this goal has brought the leaders of Roche's various sites together in a partnership focused on this achievement. While corporate-level support is important, Roche's plant engineers, facility managers, and environmental managers ultimately drive the reductions. As Roche's "energy champions," they have focused on large energy users such as HVAC systems. Important projects include conversion to variable air volume lab hoods, "free cooling," and the retro-commissioning of buildings systems. A large reduction was achieved by re-powering 10 megawatts of cogeneration at the Nutley, New Jersey campus. While many capital projects have been implemented, a large portion of savings have been achieved by simply optimizing existing systems and making sure energy is not being used unnecessarily, such as during unoccupied periods. Energy efficiency has also been accompanied by the purchase of over 2 million kilowatt-hours of clean, renewable wind power in Palo Alto, California, and Boulder, Colorado. These purchases help Roche reduce emissions even as the company grows. Multiple sites are now in the late stages of evaluation of on-site renewable energy systems that will bring additional reductions.
Progress Towards Goal Completion Roche has implemented multiple projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions since joining the Climate Leaders program, including upgrading cogeneration systems, conducting multiple lighting retrofits, and retro-commissioning buildings. Through these aggressive efforts Roche is striving to reach its goal before the target year of 2008. Roche is also working aggressively to integrate energy efficiency into new construction projects to minimize total cost of ownership. As the company grows, it is critical that its growth is achieved in the most efficient way possible to minimize further energy use and emissions.

Partner Profile

Local Navigation