Sanofi positions sustainability as a core pillar of its Play to Win strategy, anchored in four building blocks: access to healthcare, R&D for unmet needs, a healthy planet via the Planet Care program, and inclusion & diversity. The 2024 Sustainability Statement within the Universal Registration Document is Sanofi’s first CSRD/ESRS-aligned report and formalizes double materiality, TCFD, and EU Taxonomy disclosures across climate, circularity, and social impact. Sanofi has validated science-based climate targets and a pathway to carbon neutrality by 2030 (all scopes) and net-zero GHG emissions by 2045, alongside ambitious packaging, waste, and access-to-medicine goals. External recognition includes an A- CDP climate rating and a top-10 position in TIME & Statista’s 2025 ranking of the world’s most sustainable companies.
- Sanofi targets a 55% absolute reduction in Scope 1 & 2 emissions and 30% in Scope 3 by 2030 vs 2019, and a 90% reduction across all scopes by 2045, validated by the Science Based Targets initiative.
- By 2024, Scope 1+2 (market-based) emissions fell 47% vs 2019 (707,769 tCO2e down to 374,349 tCO2e), while Scope 3 decreased ~10% over the same period.
- Renewable electricity sourcing increased from 16% in 2019 to 85% in 2024, with a 100% RE100 commitment by 2030.
- Total hazardous and non-hazardous waste fell ~16% vs 2019 (174,283 tons down to 146,950 tons), with hazardous landfill waste down ~65%.
- In the 2024 Access to Medicine Index, Sanofi ranks 3rd of 20 major pharma companies (score 3.52), reflecting strong governance and access programs.
Sustainability Strategy and Goals
Sanofi’s sustainability strategy is integrated into corporate governance via the Board, the Appointments, Governance and CSR (AGC) Committee, and the Planet Care Impact Steering Committee. The Planet Care roadmap underpins the company’s climate, pollution, circularity and biodiversity agenda, with explicit links to SBTi, TCFD, and EU Taxonomy. Sanofi’s CSR goals cluster around access to healthcare, R&D for unmet needs, environmental stewardship and inclusive workplaces, and are embedded in executive compensation (10% of CEO short- and long-term incentives linked to CSR KPIs, including carbon reduction and affordable access).
- Net-zero & carbon: net-zero by 2045, carbon-neutral across all scopes by 2030, with a 55% Scope 1 & 2 and 30% Scope 3 absolute reduction target by 2030 vs 2019.
- Access & health: the Global Health Unit (GHU) aims to provide essential medicines (30 products) to 40 of the world’s poorest countries and reach 2 million NCD patients by 2030, alongside donations of 100,000 vials annually for rare diseases.
- Governance: CSR criteria account for 10% of CEO and leadership incentives; Planet Care and climate transition plans are reviewed by the Board at least annually under France’s Duty of Vigilance law.
- Workforce & inclusion: Sanofi employs ~82,878 people (2024) across 52 manufacturing sites and 13 R&D facilities, with sustained focus on gender and diversity in senior roles and global engagement programs.
Within this high-level frame, each thematic pillar is structured as follows:
- Net Zero and Carbon Emissions – Sanofi’s climate strategy rests on energy efficiency, decarbonized energy, low-carbon fleets, and value-chain engagement. It is SBTi-validated and aligned with a 1.5°C pathway. The company also deploys internal carbon pricing, biomethane contracts, and renewable thermal transitions to shrink operational emissions, and plans to neutralize residual emissions via certified carbon removal projects after 2030.
- Water Stewardship – While water is not classified as a top material topic under ESRS for Sanofi, the company conducts water-stress analyses for its manufacturing sites and integrates water risks into climate risk assessments. Water withdrawals, consumption, and discharge are monitored and reported under the ESRS E3 framework, with specific focus on high-stress basins.
- Regenerative Agriculture, Deforestation and Biodiversity – Sanofi’s direct agricultural footprint is limited but still material in areas like egg-derived vaccine substrates and heparin (pig mucosa). The Planet Care roadmap considers dependencies on biodiversity and ecosystems, and the company is actively exploring alternatives such as synthetic bacterial testing reagents to replace horseshoe crab blood in safety testing, reducing pressure on vulnerable species.
- Packaging and Circular Economy – Sanofi is pursuing a “zero-waste impact” ambition through a 3R hierarchy (Reuse, Recycle, Recover) and a landmark commitment to sell vaccines only in syringe packs with no secondary PVC blisters by 2027. PVC in secondary packaging is progressively replaced by cardboard, and eco-design principles are rolled out for all new products by 2025, with specific targets for blister-free vaccines and solvent regeneration.
- Human Rights and Responsible Sourcing – Sanofi aligns with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and OECD Guidelines, embeds due diligence across its value chain, and discloses under ESRS S2 and S4. It identifies salient risks (e.g., labor rights, child or forced labor) through a Duty of Vigilance risk table and reports no known UNGP or ILO violations in 2024.
- Nutrition and Health; Community and Social Impact – The strategy focuses on health outcomes rather than food nutrition, prioritizing vaccines, pediatric oncology, NCD medicines, and rare disease therapies for underserved patients. Initiatives like A Million Conversations aim to rebuild trust in health systems and address inequities, especially in underserved communities.
- Governance, Transparency, Technology and Innovation, Global Partnerships – Board-level oversight is complemented by the Planet Care committee, the Climate-related Risk & Opportunities Committee (CROC), and cross-functional ethics, compliance, and HSE teams. Sanofi participates in RE100, runs supplier engagement through the Energize program, and leverages digital & AI initiatives and eco-design to optimize R&D and operations.
- 2030 climate goal: 55% Scope 1 & 2 and 30% Scope 3 reduction, on track with a 47% Scope 1+2 and ~10% Scope 3 reduction achieved by 2024 vs 2019.
- Circularity goals: ≥90% of waste to be reused/recycled/recovered and landfill <1% by 2025, with 1.2% landfill and 76% of sites already below the 1% threshold in latest reporting.
- Product eco-design: 100% of new products to be eco-designed by 2025, and all syringe vaccine packaging to be blister-free and PVC-free by 2027.
- Access: GHU aims for 2 million NCD patients treated by 2030 and already provides 30 essential medicines across 40 countries.
- Governance: 10% of CEO incentives tied to CSR (5% Affordable Access, 5% Planet Care carbon footprint), reflecting integrated sustainability governance.
Key Sustainability Innovations and Technologies
Sanofi’s innovation agenda increasingly treats sustainability as a design constraint across product, process, and supply chain. The Planet Care program drives climate and circularity innovation, supported by a global ISO 50001 energy management system, internal carbon pricing, and an eco-design framework for both medicines and packaging. Beyond operations, the company is deploying digital tools and advanced analytics to optimize energy, logistics, and product life-cycle impacts.
- Energy & climate tech
- ISO 50001:2018 certified energy management system now covers >80% of Sanofi’s energy consumption across R&D, manufacturing, and distribution.
- Biomethane supply contract in France (2024–2030) for 210 GWh/year, supporting a shift to renewable thermal energy.
- On-site solar generation increased to 18,787 MWh in 2024 from just 6 MWh in 2019, enabling self-generation of up to 25 GWh annually.
- Circular packaging & product eco-design
- Blister-free vaccine secondary packaging (Compact Box) is sharply reducing plastics; external analyses estimate ~130 tons of plastic eliminated annually, with Sanofi targeting 100% blister-free syringe vaccine packaging by 2027 and 55% of vaccine packs already blister-free in current reporting.
- TouStar, a reusable insulin pen with replaceable cartridges, exemplifies lower-material, longer-life device design, cutting plastic per treatment while improving usability.
- Solvent regeneration programs now regenerate 58% of solvents, reintroducing them into industrial processes and avoiding corresponding hazardous waste volumes.
- Waste-to-resource and industrial symbiosis
- One French site re-routes 1,800–3,000 tons/year of material previously treated as hazardous waste into another company’s production as a substitute raw material.
- Biowaste from heparin production (pig mucosa) is converted to biomethane, recovering energy from >99% of this stream, and egg waste from flu vaccines is directed to composting or methanization.
- Digital, AI and data-driven sustainability
- Sanofi’s enterprise-wide Digital & AI programs extend into manufacturing and supply, where standardization, performance dashboards and digital twins are used to reduce energy, optimize transport modes, and minimize waste.
- 85% of electricity is already from renewable sources (RE100 trajectory to 100% by 2030).
- 50% of the global sales fleet now meets eco-fleet criteria, with a target of 80% by 2030 (hybrid, EV, biofuel).
- 1.2% of waste goes to landfill, and 76% of sites have <1% landfill rate, indicating rapid progress toward the “zero-landfill” target.
Measurable Impacts
Sanofi’s recent ESG disclosures show measurable decarbonization and circularity gains from 2019 to 2024, even as Scope 3 remains the dominant challenge. GHG emissions tables in the 2024 Sustainability Statement and climate dashboard demonstrate steep reductions in operational carbon, strong renewable energy adoption, and improving waste hierarchy performance. Sanofi’s social impact is evidenced by its rising Access to Medicine Index rank and expansion of the Global Health Unit.
- Climate & energy performance (2019–2024)
- Scope 1 GHG emissions: 436,420 tCO2e (2019) to 298,485 tCO2e (2024), a 31.6% reduction.
- Scope 2 (market-based) GHG emissions: 271,349 tCO2e (2019) to 75,864 tCO2e (2024), a 72% reduction.
- Total Scope 1+2 (market-based): 707,769 tCO2e (2019) to 374,349 tCO2e (2024), a 47.1% cut, essentially on track with the 55% 2030 target.
- Scope 3: 4.27 MtCO2e in 2019 vs 3.82 MtCO2e in 2024, a 10.4% drop, with the largest category (purchased goods & services) reduced ~11.5%.
- Renewable electricity: 16% share in 2019 vs 85% in 2024; Sanofi targets 100% globally by 2030.
- Waste, circularity and packaging
- Total hazardous and non-hazardous waste: 174,283 tons (2019) reduced to 146,950 tons (2024), a 15.7% decrease.
- Hazardous waste landfilled dropped from 496 tons to 176 tons (~64.5% reduction) over the same period.
- 58% of solvents are now regenerated and reused on site, avoiding an equivalent quantity of hazardous waste.
- Landfill rate has fallen to 1.2% of total waste, with 76% of sites at <1% landfill, and 55% of vaccine packaging reported as blister-free in the most recent circular economy disclosure.
- Access, health outcomes and equity
- Global Health Unit: provides 30 essential medicines (including insulin and oncology drugs) across 40 of the most vulnerable countries via the Impact brand.
- Rare disease support: 100,000 vials donated annually, serving ~1,000 patients with conditions such as Fabry, Gaucher and Pompe disease.
- Access to Medicine Index: Sanofi climbed to 3rd place in the 2024 ranking (score 3.52), up from 8th in the previous edition.
- Health equity: A Million Conversations launched in 2023 as a global multi-year initiative to build trust in health systems, with a focus on underserved communities, including programs in the US.
- ESG reputation and ratings
- Sanofi received an A- “Leadership” score from CDP and is rated “A” by MSCI and 91/100 by Refinitiv, highlighting strong ESG risk management despite remaining controversies on drug pricing.
- TIME/Statista’s 2025 list ranks Sanofi #10 among the world’s most sustainable companies, ahead of many pharma peers.
Challenges and Areas for Improvement
Despite clear progress, Sanofi still faces structural sustainability challenges common to large pharmaceutical companies. The most significant is that Scope 3 accounts for the vast majority of emissions and remains only modestly reduced vs the 2019 baseline, particularly in purchased goods and services, logistics, and product end-of-life. Plastic use in packaging, although declining, remains substantial; blister-free projects cover just over half of vaccine volumes, leaving a material footprint in other therapeutic categories and secondary packaging systems. Socially, while Sanofi performs strongly on access metrics, it is not immune from criticism regarding drug pricing and equitable access in some markets, and must continuously demonstrate that its business model aligns with affordability commitments.
- Scope 3 remains at 3.82 MtCO2e in 2024 vs 4.27 MtCO2e in 2019, meaning a 10.4% cut against a 30% reduction target by 2030—significant acceleration is required this decade. Purchased goods & services alone account for ~2.66 MtCO2e.
- Downstream emissions (use and end-of-life of sold products) have increased in some categories, indicating that eco-design and disposal programs are not yet fully offsetting volume and mix effects.
- Plastic and PVC elimination timelines (2027 for vaccine packs) are ambitious but still several years away; scaling blister-free and fiber-based solutions across consumer health and specialty medicines will be complex and capital intensive.
- Transparency on water metrics is less granular than on climate and waste, reflecting lower perceived materiality but also making it harder for stakeholders to assess site-level performance in water-stressed regions.
- External observers note ongoing pricing controversies; maintaining a high Access to Medicine ranking will require Sanofi to consistently reconcile shareholder returns with affordability commitments in both rich and poorer markets.
Future Plans and Long-Term Goals
Sanofi’s roadmap to 2030–2045 is relatively clear and quantitatively defined. By 2030, the company aims to reach carbon neutrality across all scopes underpinned by substantial emission cuts and carefully selected offsets, achieve 100% renewable electricity, and hit its 3R and landfill targets. By 2025, all new products should be eco-designed, and by 2027 all vaccines in syringe form should have blister-free, PVC-free packaging. Longer term, Sanofi’s 2045 net-zero target envisages a 90% reduction in absolute Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions vs 2019, with limited residual emissions neutralized via carbon removal projects. On the social side, the Global Health Unit’s 2030 goals, pediatric oncology R&D focus, and rare disease donation commitments should remain central to Sanofi’s positioning as a global health actor rather than a traditional pharma brand.
- By 2030: 55% reduction in Scope 1 & 2 and 30% in Scope 3 vs 2019, 100% renewable electricity, and a 30% reduction in waste index vs 2019.
- By 2025: all manufacturing sites to implement plans to monitor and reduce pharmaceuticals in wastewater; all new products to be eco-designed with integrated environmental criteria.
- By 2027: 100% blister-free syringe vaccine packaging, replacing plastic with cardboard systems in secondary packaging, and eliminating PVC from these packs.
- 2045: net-zero with a 90% reduction across all scopes, underpinned by SBTi-validated near- and long-term targets.
Relative to peers, Sanofi’s 2045 net-zero date is aligned with GSK and AstraZeneca, but slightly behind Novartis (2040) and Pfizer (2040). However, Sanofi’s early leadership in blister-free packaging, solvent regeneration, and its #10 global sustainability ranking may offer reputational and regulatory advantages, especially as packaging and post-consumer waste regulation tightens.
Comparisons to Industry Competitors
Sanofi’s sustainability performance sits in the top tier of the pharma sector but with nuanced competitive positioning depending on the dimension considered.
- Versus Novartis
- Novartis targets net-zero GHG emissions across its value chain by 2040 (vs Sanofi’s 2045) and has SBTi-validated near and long-term targets from a 2022 base year (90% Scope 1+2 and 42% Scope 3 reduction by 2030).
- In the 2024 Access to Medicine Index, Novartis ranks 1st, while Sanofi ranks 3rd, both with strong governance and R&D access strategies.
- Sanofi, however, appears more advanced on packaging and waste circularity (e.g., blister-free vaccines, 1.2% landfill, 76% of sites <1% landfill), where Novartis’ public disclosures are somewhat less detailed.
- Versus GSK
- GSK targets an 80% reduction across all scopes by 2030 vs a 2020 baseline, and net-zero by 2045, with a 90% reduction and residual neutralization—roughly similar in ambition and timing to Sanofi’s 2045 net-zero goal.
- GSK leads the Access to Medicine Index at #2, slightly ahead of Sanofi (#3), reflecting a strong and longstanding access portfolio.
- Sanofi’s circular packaging push (e.g., blister-free vaccines, PVC phase-out, fiber-based blister collaborations) is more visible than GSK’s in recent packaging innovation consortia, giving Sanofi a potential edge in regulatory and customer-facing packaging metrics.
- Versus Pfizer
- Pfizer aims for net-zero by 2040 with a 46% Scope 1+2 cut by 2030 and 95% company / 90% value-chain reductions by 2040—more aggressive timing than Sanofi, but from a different baseline and sectoral profile.
- Pfizer ranks 4th in the 2024 Access to Medicine Index, just behind Sanofi (3rd), suggesting comparable strength in access but with different portfolios.
- On packaging and circular economy, Sanofi is more clearly positioning itself as a packaging innovation leader through PVC-free commitments and blister-free vaccine packaging, whereas Pfizer’s public narrative emphasizes climate and energy more than post-consumer waste.
- Sanofi vs peers – summary
- Climate: Sanofi’s 2045 net-zero timeline is mid-pack (ahead of laggards, behind 2040 leaders), but its 47% Scope 1+2 reduction by 2024 indicates strong execution against 2030 targets.
- Access to Medicine: Sanofi is consistently in the top three together with GSK and Novartis, ahead of Pfizer and AstraZeneca, reinforcing its access and global health credibility.
- Circularity: Sanofi stands out on blister-free vaccines, PVC elimination, and 3R waste metrics, while others are generally less explicit in public disclosures on packaging targets.
Our Thoughts
Sanofi has moved decisively from incremental CSR initiatives to a more systemic, CSRD-aligned sustainability strategy anchored in Planet Care and science-based climate targets. Its climate trajectory is credible, with tangible decarbonization in operations and a robust RE100 pathway, even though value-chain emissions remain a stubborn majority of the footprint. On circularity, Sanofi is clearly positioning itself at the front of the pharma sector: blister-free vaccines, PVC elimination, solvent regeneration, and industrial symbiosis projects show that packaging and waste are being tackled as design problems rather than end-of-pipe issues. At the same time, water stewardship, while tracked, is less visible and would benefit from more granular, basin-level disclosures as expectations under ESRS E3 evolve.
For other companies, Sanofi’s model offers several strategic lessons:
- Treat packaging and waste as innovation spaces, not compliance obligations—link eco-design, industrial symbiosis, and post-consumer take-back pilots into one circular roadmap.
- Align net-zero commitments with SBTi standards, but pair them with a detailed, financially integrated transition plan and energy management system (ISO 50001 or equivalent).
- Embed access and equity (like the Global Health Unit and trust-building initiatives) as core business models rather than philanthropy, especially in high-need markets.
- Use executive incentives sparingly but visibly tied to a small set of material ESG metrics (e.g., carbon, access, DE&I) so that sustainability becomes a performance expectation, not an optional stretch goal.
Overall, Sanofi is a credible sustainability leader in pharma—not the most aggressive on net-zero timing, but notably strong on access, packaging and circularity. The next phase will be defined by how quickly the company can bend its Scope 3 curve, deepen water and biodiversity disclosures, and demonstrate that its pricing and access models remain aligned with its public commitments in a more demanding regulatory and societal environment.
Key sources
https://www.pfizer.com/about/responsibility/environmental-sustainability
https://www.sanofi.com/en/our-company/sustainability
https://www.sanofi.com/en/our-company/sustainability/global-health-unit
https://accesstomedicinefoundation.org/company/sanofi
https://accesstomedicinefoundation.org/sectors-and-research/index-ranking
https://www.novartis.com/esg/environmental-sustainability/climate
https://www.gsk.com/en-gb/responsibility/environment/climate/
