Eli Lilly and Company is a global pharmaceutical company headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, focused on discovering, developing, and delivering medicines across diabetes and obesity, oncology, immunology, and neuroscience, with revenues of approximately $45.0 billion in 2024 and operations spanning more than 125 countries. The company’s growth trajectory in 2024 was driven by the commercial scale-up of tirzepatide (Mounjaro and Zepbound), which accelerated manufacturing expansion and materially increased energy consumption, water use, and waste generation at new and existing production sites. The primary sources for this analysis are the 2024 Sustainability Report (published October 2025 at sustainability.lilly.com), the 2024 Sustainability Data Tables, and the externally assured ESG performance data with assurance by an independent third-party firm using AICPA standards.
Lilly has committed to carbon neutrality in Scope 1 and 2 operations by 2030 and to net zero emissions by 2050 globally, with 2030 climate goals covering 100% renewable electricity, carbon neutrality in owned operations, enhanced Scope 3 tracking and reporting, zero waste to landfill, and 100% of plastic waste repurposed for beneficial use. The company provided $4.2 billion in free medicines in 2024, including $30.9 million in disaster relief and humanitarian assistance, and reduced Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 37% from 2020 to 2024 while growing its overall business substantially over the same period.
Source
https://sustainability.lilly.com
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/climate
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/water
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/waste
https://assets.ctfassets.net/1o78rkhl3da6/718Qq8KNW0Mt1M0uSpU3fi/af3ea16ec8054f7f6ae9448045f4b563/Lilly_2024_Sustainability_Data_Tables.xlsx
Sustainability Strategy and Goals
Lilly’s sustainability strategy operates across three pillars: Environmental (climate, water, waste), Social (access and affordability, inclusion, employee wellbeing, community), and Governance (ethics, transparency, board oversight). ESG goals are formally linked to executive compensation, with access-to-medicine incentives in place for the CEO and progress on sustainability goals embedded in the corporate performance framework. Lilly publishes a digital Sustainability Report annually, supplemented by a separately assured performance data table and a CDP Climate Change and CDP Water Security disclosure.
Lilly reports under GRI Standards, SASB, the GHG Protocol, the UN SDGs, and CDP, with independent third-party limited assurance applied to key ESG indicators including GHG emissions, energy, water, waste, and progress against 2030 goals using AICPA AT-C Section 105 and Section 210 standards. The 2024 report integrates data from all 32 Lilly manufacturing and R&D facilities globally, including newly commissioned sites that expanded the reporting boundary and contributed to higher absolute resource consumption figures in 2024.
Net Zero and Carbon Emissions
Lilly’s 2030 climate goals target carbon neutrality in Scope 1 and 2 (market-based) operations and 100% renewable electricity sourcing by 2030, with a longer-term net zero commitment for all global operations by 2050. Total Scope 1 and 2 (market-based) emissions reached 450,000 MT CO2e in 2024, a 37% reduction from the 2020 baseline of 710,000 MT CO2e, achieved while total revenue and manufacturing output grew substantially. Scope 3 emissions rose to 6,174,000 MT CO2e in 2024, driven by manufacturing scale-up for tirzepatide products and the expansion of Lilly’s purchased goods and services footprint.
- Scope 1 emissions (MT CO2e): 159,000 (2020 baseline) → 157,000 (2021) → 171,000 (2022) → 182,000 (2023) → 192,000 (2024); a 20.8% increase from baseline, driven by new manufacturing facility start-ups
- Scope 2 (market-based, MT CO2e): 551,000 (2020 baseline) → 466,000 (2021) → 374,000 (2022) → 345,000 (2023) → 258,000 (2024); a 53.2% reduction from baseline, the primary driver of overall Scope 1+2 progress
- Total Scope 1+2 (market-based, MT CO2e): 710,000 (2020 baseline) → 623,000 (2021) → 545,000 (2022) → 527,000 (2023) → 450,000 (2024); a 36.6% reduction from baseline
- GHG emissions intensity (Scope 1+2 market-based per USD of revenue): 0.000029 (2020) → 0.000022 (2021) → 0.000019 (2022) → 0.000015 (2023) → 0.000010 (2024); a 65.5% improvement from baseline, reflecting strong revenue growth relative to emissions
- Scope 3 emissions (MT CO2e): 176,000 limited scope (2020) → 2,987,000 (2021) → 3,179,000 (2022) → 5,139,500 (2023) → 6,174,000 (2024); year-over-year increase of 20.1% in 2024, driven by manufacturing expansion and increased purchased goods footprint
- 2030 Scope 3 goal: Enhance tracking and reporting of full value chain emissions; no absolute reduction target published
- Net zero commitment: All global operations by 2050 per the UK Carbon Reduction Plan (January 2025 publication)
Water Stewardship
Lilly’s water management strategy focuses on reducing water consumption at sites in water-stressed geographies, maintaining pharmaceutical-in-environment (PiE) controls across all manufacturing sites, and sustaining a near-total water recycle and reuse rate across its global operations. In 2024, Lilly recycled or reused 290 billion liters of water, representing 97.5% of total water demand across all facilities. Water intake increased 3.4% year-over-year from 7.35 billion liters in 2023 to 7.60 billion liters in 2024, reflecting the commissioning of new manufacturing facilities for tirzepatide production.
- Water intake (billion liters): 6.10 (2020) → 5.92 (2021) → 6.52 (2022) → 7.35 (2023) → 7.60 (2024); a 24.6% increase from 2020, driven by new facility start-ups
- Water recycle and reuse rate (%): 98.4% (2020) → 98.0% (2021) → 97.7% (2022) → 97.5% (2023) → 97.5% (2024); essentially stable at industry-leading levels
- Percent of water use in water-stressed areas: 8.1% (2020) → 8.9% (2021) → 7.7% (2022) → 7.4% (2023) → 7.5% (2024); below 10% and stable
- Water stress management plans: 100% of manufacturing sites in water-stressed geographies have developed water stress management plans; implementation phase active in 2024
- PiE compliance (own sites): 100% of Lilly sites meeting predicted no-effect concentrations (PNEC) for pharmaceuticals in the environment in 2024
- PiE compliance (contract manufacturers): 100% of assessed external manufacturing partners meeting PNEC limits in 2024
Deforestation and Biodiversity
Lilly has not published formal deforestation or biodiversity targets in its 2024 Sustainability Report. The company’s PiE management program, which applies PNEC analysis to all own manufacturing sites and assessed contract manufacturers, is the primary mechanism through which Lilly manages the ecological impact of its operations on water bodies and adjacent ecosystems. Product and packaging design sustainability integration, governed by the Design for Sustainability Guidebook, addresses end-of-life recyclability and material selection, which carry indirect biodiversity co-benefits through reduced landfill and plastic pollution.
- PiE program: 100% of own manufacturing sites meeting PNEC standards in 2024; 100% of assessed contract manufacturers meeting PNEC standards in 2024
- Design for Sustainability Guidebook: Internal tool guiding next-generation delivery device and secondary packaging design toward recyclability, reduced material intensity, and bio-based material alternatives
- Bio-based materials research: Active investment in identifying renewable and bio-based materials for future packaging and device designs to reduce fossil-derived material dependence
- No company-wide deforestation, nature positive, or biodiversity targets published as of the 2024 Sustainability Report
Packaging and Circular Economy
Lilly’s circular economy program focuses on achieving zero waste to landfill from routine operations, eliminating plastic waste to landfill, and integrating sustainability-focused design principles into all new product and packaging developments through the Design for Sustainability Guidebook. In 2024, 20 of Lilly’s 32 facilities achieved the zero-landfill target, with 1.1% of routine operational waste sent to landfill, an improvement from 2.0% in 2023 but still above the sub-0.5% target for 2030.
- Total waste generated (metric tonnes): 130,000 (2020) → 118,000 (2021) → 121,000 (2022) → 116,000 (2023) → 125,000 (2024); a 4% reduction from the 2020 baseline, achieved while manufacturing output increased
- Hazardous waste (metric tonnes): 20,000 (2020) → 20,000 (2021) → 22,000 (2022) → 19,000 (2023) → 27,000 (2024); a 42.1% year-over-year increase in 2024, driven by hazardous material usage at new manufacturing facilities
- Waste to landfill from routine operations (metric tonnes): 600 (2021) → 1,800 (2022) → 2,000 (2023) → 1,200 (2024); improving year-over-year but above the near-zero target
- Percent of routine waste to landfill: 1.8% (2022) → 2.0% (2023) → 1.1% (2024); 2030 target: less than 0.5%
- Plastic waste from routine operations (metric tonnes): 8,600 (2021) → 10,600 (2022) → 10,500 (2023) → 10,900 (2024)
- Plastic waste repurposed for beneficial use (%): 97.7% (2022) → 96.6% (2023) → 95.7% (2024); 2030 target: 100%
- Plastic waste recycled or reused (%): 88.1% (2022) → 86.3% (2023) → 86.6% (2024); 2030 target: at least 90%
- Facilities achieving zero-landfill: 20 of 32 (2024); 2030 goal: all 32 facilities
- Beneficial use disposition (recycled, reused, waste-to-energy, metric tonnes): 120,000 (2020) → 103,000 (2023) → 112,000 (2024)
Human Rights and Responsible Sourcing
Lilly’s responsible sourcing framework covers labor standards, human rights, environmental practices, and product quality across its Tier 1 supplier base through the Lilly Supplier Code of Conduct. The company has not published a quantified supplier SBTi coverage target as a percentage of spend or emissions, though enhanced Scope 3 tracking and reporting is a formal 2030 goal encompassing supplier engagement. PiE compliance requirements extend to 100% of assessed external contract manufacturing partners, providing a baseline for environmental performance in the supply chain.
- PiE compliance for contract manufacturers: 100% of assessed external partners meeting PNEC limits in 2024
- Scope 3 supplier engagement: Formal goal of enhancing tracking and reporting of full value chain emissions by 2030; no quantified supplier SBTi coverage percentage published
- Scope 3 trajectory: 6,174,000 MT CO2e (2024), up 20.1% from 2023, driven by manufacturing expansion for high-demand products; data for 2024 was noted in the performance tables as requiring Q3 2025 finalization for select categories
- Ethics and compliance training: Annual mandatory ethics training completed by all employees; compliance hotline and non-retaliation policies in place globally
Nutrition and Health
Lilly’s access and affordability programs are anchored by two flagship initiatives: the Lilly 30×30 program, targeting delivery of quality healthcare access to 30 million people in resource-limited settings annually by 2030, and Lilly Cares, the U.S. patient assistance program supporting patients who cannot afford their medicines. In 2024, Lilly provided $4.2 billion in free medicines, including $30.9 million in disaster relief and humanitarian assistance, and Lilly Cares helped more than 164,000 people obtain prescribed medications across diabetes, immunology, neuroscience, cancer, and other therapeutic areas.
- Total free medicines provided: $4.2 billion in 2024, including $30.9 million in disaster relief
- Lilly 30×30 program: Targets 30 million people annually in resource-limited settings by 2030 through alternative business models and partnerships
- Lilly Cares: More than 164,000 patients helped with prescribed medications in 2024
- LillyDirect: Launched as a direct-to-consumer digital healthcare experience in the U.S., expanding access to millions of adults with obesity, diabetes, and migraine directly from a trusted source
- Insulin affordability (U.S.): Average monthly out-of-pocket cost for Lilly insulins was $14.86 in 2024; $35-per-month cap for commercially insured patients at most retail pharmacies; list price of commonly used insulins reduced by 70%
- Lilly Africa partnerships: Active collaborations to expand access to insulin and baricitinib in Africa
- IABL collaboration: Announced December 2024 with the Insulin Access and Biosimilar Leadership organization to address access gaps for people with diabetes in LMICs
- Access to Medicine Index 2024: Lilly recognized for access-to-medicine strategy and CEO-level access incentives; recommended to extend incentives to senior executives and in-country managers in LMICs
Community and Social Impact
Lilly’s community impact is delivered through the Lilly Foundation, direct corporate philanthropic investments, and programmatic partnerships addressing health access in underserved settings. The company donated $6.5 million to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF in 2024 to enhance health outcomes for at-risk children and youth in resource-limited settings in India. Employee volunteerism and community engagement programs are active globally, supporting health access and STEM education initiatives.
- UNICEF donation: $6.5 million in 2024 for health outcomes for at-risk children and youth in India
- Disaster relief: $30.9 million in disaster relief and humanitarian assistance included in the 2024 free medicines total
- Women in global workforce: Approximately at parity with men as of end-2024; positive trends in representation across management positions from 2020 to 2024
- Employee inclusion: Culture of inclusion programs active globally with a focus on diverse backgrounds, skills, and global perspectives
- Pay equity: Regular global pay equity studies conducted; compliance with local legislative analyses and reporting requirements globally
Governance and Transparency
Lilly’s Board of Directors oversees ESG through the Public Policy and Sustainability Committee, which reviews environmental and social sustainability strategy, progress against goals, and enterprise risk management implications of sustainability. ESG targets are linked to executive compensation, with access-to-medicine incentives in place for the CEO. Independent third-party limited assurance is applied to key ESG environmental indicators annually, with the 2024 assurance engagement covering GHG emissions, energy, water, waste, and all 2030 goal progress metrics.
- Board ESG oversight: Public Policy and Sustainability Committee of the Board of Directors
- Executive compensation linkage: Access-to-medicine incentives for CEO; sustainability goals embedded in corporate performance framework
- External assurance: Limited assurance by independent third party using AICPA AT-C Section 105 and Section 210 standards, covering all key environmental KPIs and 2030 goal progress
- Reporting frameworks: GRI Standards, SASB, GHG Protocol, UN SDGs, CDP Climate Change, CDP Water Security
- Board composition: 13-member board includes four women (31%) and five members of underrepresented groups (38%)
Technology and Innovation
Lilly’s decarbonization technology strategy focuses on three primary levers: transition to cleaner and more efficient energy technologies at manufacturing sites, renewable electricity procurement scaling, and integration of sustainability design principles into product and packaging development. The 2024 sustainability report confirms that despite a significant increase in energy consumption due to new facility start-ups, GHG emissions declined by reducing reliance on high-emission energy sources and transitioning to cleaner technologies. Renewable electricity sourcing doubled from 28.4% in 2023 to 58.3% in 2024, the single largest annual renewable energy expansion in Lilly’s reported history.
- Renewable electricity (%): 7.0% (2020) → 9.6% (2021) → 14.4% (2022) → 28.4% (2023) → 58.3% (2024); a 29.9-percentage-point increase year-over-year; 2030 target: 100%
- Total energy consumption (million BTUs): 6,200,000 (2020) → 6,100,000 (2021) → 6,130,000 (2022) → 7,240,000 (2023) → 7,293,000 (2024); a 17.6% increase from 2020, driven by new facility start-ups
- Direct energy consumption (million BTUs): 1,700,000 (2020) → 1,600,000 (2021) → 1,950,000 (2022) → 2,910,000 (2023) → 2,964,000 (2024); a 74.4% increase from 2020
- Indirect energy consumption (million BTUs): 4,500,000 (2020) → 4,500,000 (2021) → 4,180,000 (2022) → 4,330,000 (2023) → 4,329,000 (2024); essentially stable
- Design for Sustainability Guidebook: Internal tool for next-generation device and secondary packaging design emphasizing recyclability, material reduction, and bio-based alternatives
- Plastic bottle to aluminium can transition: Majority of plastic bottled drinks at Lilly facilities transitioned to aluminium cans with higher recycling rates
- Single-use plastic elimination: European facility food service providers eliminated single-use plastic cutlery, plates, and drink accessories
- LillyDirect: Direct-to-consumer digital healthcare platform launched in 2024, improving access efficiency for patients with obesity, diabetes, and migraine
Global Partnerships and Advocacy
Lilly is a signatory to the UN SDGs and aligns its sustainability strategy formally with SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 13 (Climate Action), and SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production). The company’s IABL collaboration, announced in December 2024, marks a new multilateral partnership structure to address insulin access gaps in LMICs, supplementing the existing Lilly 30×30 program. Lilly participates in CDP Climate Change and CDP Water Security annual reporting, providing a standardized global disclosure mechanism for institutional investor and stakeholder ESG assessment.
- UN SDG alignment: SDG 3, 6, 12, and 13 formally integrated into the sustainability strategy
- IABL collaboration: December 2024 partnership with the Insulin Access and Biosimilar Leadership organization to address LMIC access gaps
- CDP disclosures: Annual CDP Climate Change and CDP Water Security responses submitted
- Lilly 30×30: Long-term program targeting 30 million people annually in resource-limited settings through alternative business models, innovative collaborations, and supply chain partnerships
- UNICEF partnership: $6.5 million 2024 donation for child and youth health outcomes in India
Source
https://sustainability.lilly.com
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/climate
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/water
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/waste
https://assets.ctfassets.net/1o78rkhl3da6/718Qq8KNW0Mt1M0uSpU3fi/af3ea16ec8054f7f6ae9448045f4b563/Lilly_2024_Sustainability_Data_Tables.xlsx
https://sustainability.lilly.com/social/improving-global-access-and-health
https://sustainability.lilly.com/social/us-access-affordability
https://sustainability.lilly.com/social/inclusion
Progress vs. Target Tracker
Source
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/climate
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/water
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/waste
https://assets.ctfassets.net/1o78rkhl3da6/718Qq8KNW0Mt1M0uSpU3fi/af3ea16ec8054f7f6ae9448045f4b563/Lilly_2024_Sustainability_Data_Tables.xlsx
Key Sustainability Innovations and Technologies
Lilly’s most operationally impactful sustainability innovation in 2024 is the acceleration of renewable electricity procurement from 28.4% in 2023 to 58.3% in 2024, a 29.9-percentage-point increase achieved while simultaneously commissioning new manufacturing facilities for tirzepatide production. This procurement expansion is the primary mechanism behind the 37% Scope 1+2 reduction from the 2020 baseline and demonstrates that renewable energy contracting can be scaled rapidly when supported by executive-level capital commitment. Scope 2 market-based emissions declined 53.2% from the 2020 baseline to 258,000 MT CO2e in 2024, confirming the direct linkage between renewable procurement pace and Scope 2 trajectory.
The Design for Sustainability Guidebook represents Lilly’s most strategically forward innovation on circular economy. By embedding recyclability, material reduction, and bio-based material standards directly into the design process for new delivery devices and packaging, Lilly is addressing the plastic waste problem at source rather than through end-of-pipe recycling infrastructure investments. The company’s water recycle and reuse system, which sustains a 97.5% recycle rate across all 32 facilities, is an operationally mature circular water management system that limits the absolute water intake increase despite significant manufacturing capacity additions.
- Renewable electricity scale-up: 7.0% (2020) → 58.3% (2024); a 51.3-percentage-point increase in four years; 2023 to 2024 increase alone of 29.9 percentage points is the largest single-year jump in the company’s reported history
- Scope 2 market-based reduction: 551,000 MT CO2e (2020) → 258,000 MT CO2e (2024); a 53.2% absolute reduction in four years
- GHG intensity improvement: 0.000029 MT CO2e per USD revenue (2020) → 0.000010 (2024); a 65.5% intensity improvement, confirming strong decoupling of emissions from revenue growth
- Water recycle and reuse: 290 billion liters recycled in 2024; 97.5% total demand met through recycle; system maintained through new facility start-ups
- Design for Sustainability Guidebook: Internal tool governing recyclability, material reduction, and bio-based material integration for all next-generation devices and packaging
- PNEC compliance system: 100% own site and 100% contract manufacturer compliance with PNEC pharmaceutical-in-environment standards; active management system covering wastewater treatment and discharge monitoring
- LillyDirect digital platform: Launched in 2024 as a direct-to-consumer healthcare access mechanism for millions of obesity, diabetes, and migraine patients in the U.S., reducing system-level access barriers
Source
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/climate
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/waste
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/water
Measurable Impacts
Lilly’s 2024 environmental performance shows a critical tension between strong Scope 2 and GHG intensity improvements driven by renewable electricity procurement and the absolute resource consumption increases driven by unprecedented manufacturing scale-up for tirzepatide products. Scope 1+2 (market-based) at 450,000 MT CO2e in 2024 represents a 37% improvement from the 2020 baseline, but Scope 1 alone rose 20.8% from the 2020 baseline to 192,000 MT CO2e, driven entirely by new facility combustion and process energy. The total energy consumed rose 17.6% from the 2020 baseline to 7,293,000 million BTUs in 2024, and water intake rose 24.6% over the same period.
On the social side, the $4.2 billion in free medicines provided in 2024 and the 164,000-plus patients served by Lilly Cares represent Lilly’s most quantified access impact metrics, supported by the U.S. average monthly out-of-pocket insulin cost of $14.86, following the 70% list price reduction on commonly used insulins.
- Total Scope 1+2 (market-based, MT CO2e): 710,000 (2020) → 623,000 (2021) → 545,000 (2022) → 527,000 (2023) → 450,000 (2024); a 37% reduction from 2020
- Scope 1 (MT CO2e): 159,000 (2020) → 157,000 (2021) → 171,000 (2022) → 182,000 (2023) → 192,000 (2024); a 20.8% increase from 2020
- Scope 2 market-based (MT CO2e): 551,000 (2020) → 466,000 (2021) → 374,000 (2022) → 345,000 (2023) → 258,000 (2024); a 53.2% reduction from 2020
- Scope 3 (MT CO2e): 2,987,000 (2021) → 3,179,000 (2022) → 5,139,500 (2023) → 6,174,000 (2024); a 106.7% increase from 2021
- Renewable electricity: 7.0% (2020) → 14.4% (2022) → 28.4% (2023) → 58.3% (2024)
- Total energy (million BTUs): 6,200,000 (2020) → 7,293,000 (2024); a 17.6% increase
- GHG intensity (MT CO2e per USD revenue): 0.000029 (2020) → 0.000010 (2024); a 65.5% improvement
- Water intake (billion liters): 6.10 (2020) → 7.60 (2024); a 24.6% increase
- Water recycle rate: 97.5% (2024)
- Total waste (metric tonnes): 130,000 (2020) → 125,000 (2024); a 4% reduction
- Routine waste to landfill: 2.0% (2023) → 1.1% (2024); improving
- Plastic waste recycled or reused: 86.6% (2024)
- Free medicines provided: $4.2 billion (2024)
- Lilly Cares patients served: 164,000+ (2024)
- U.S. average monthly insulin out-of-pocket cost: $14.86 (2024)
Source
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/climate
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/water
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/waste
https://sustainability.lilly.com/social/us-access-affordability
Challenges and Areas for Improvement
Lilly’s most structurally significant sustainability challenge is the rising Scope 1 and Scope 3 trajectories driven by its rapid manufacturing scale-up for tirzepatide products. Scope 1 rose from 159,000 MT CO2e in 2020 to 192,000 MT CO2e in 2024, a 20.8% increase over four years, and Scope 3 rose from 2,987,000 MT CO2e in 2021 to 6,174,000 MT CO2e in 2024, a 106.7% increase in three years. Achieving carbon neutrality in Scope 1 and 2 by 2030 requires Scope 1 to decline from 192,000 MT CO2e to near zero through process heat electrification, fuel switching, and efficiency gains, while Scope 2 approaches zero through renewable procurement, all while the company continues expanding manufacturing capacity.
The Scope 3 increase is the most significant gap without a corresponding reduction commitment. Unlike Novartis (42% reduction target by 2030), AstraZeneca (50% reduction target by 2030), and Pfizer (net zero by 2040), Lilly’s Scope 3 goal is limited to enhancing tracking and reporting with no absolute reduction target, leaving the 6,174,000 MT CO2e footprint unaddressed by a formal commitment.
- Scope 1 rising: 159,000 MT CO2e (2020) → 192,000 MT CO2e (2024); a 20.8% increase; process heat electrification not yet underway at scale
- Scope 3 rising: 2,987,000 MT CO2e (2021) → 6,174,000 MT CO2e (2024); a 106.7% increase in three years; no absolute reduction target published
- No Scope 3 absolute reduction target: Lilly’s 2030 Scope 3 goal covers tracking and reporting only; no reduction percentage or baseline-year target has been published, the most significant gap versus pharmaceutical peers
- No supplier SBTi engagement coverage target: No percentage of suppliers by spend or emissions holding SBTi-approved targets is published, unlike Pfizer (65%), Novartis (97%), and AstraZeneca (95%)
- Plastic waste recycled or reused: 86.6% in 2024, below the 90% target; declining trend from 88.1% in 2022 to 86.6% in 2024
- Plastic waste beneficial use: 95.7% in 2024, declining from 97.7% in 2022; 100% target by 2030 requires new recycling technologies and external capacity not yet in place
- Water intake rising: 6.10 billion liters (2020) → 7.60 billion liters (2024); a 24.6% increase with no company-wide absolute water reduction target
- Hazardous waste spike: 19,000 MT (2023) → 27,000 MT (2024); a 42.1% year-over-year increase, the sharpest hazardous waste increase in the reporting period
- No biodiversity or deforestation targets: No nature-based commitments, no AZ Forest equivalent, and no Global Biodiversity Framework alignment published as of 2024
- Insulin access gap in LMICs: Lilly’s insulin glargine analogue registered in only one low-income country as of the 2024 Access to Medicine Index analysis; analogue access coverage in LICs is critically narrow
Source
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/climate
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/waste
https://assets.ctfassets.net/1o78rkhl3da6/718Qq8KNW0Mt1M0uSpU3fi/af3ea16ec8054f7f6ae9448045f4b563/Lilly_2024_Sustainability_Data_Tables.xlsx
https://accesstomedicinefoundation.org/company/eli-lilly-co
Future Plans and Long-Term Goals
Lilly’s 2030 environmental roadmap is built on four simultaneous tracks: reaching 100% renewable electricity, achieving carbon neutrality in Scope 1 and 2, reaching near-zero landfill from routine operations, and achieving 100% plastic waste beneficial use. The carbon neutrality goal by 2030 requires closing the 450,000 MT CO2e Scope 1+2 gap fully, which in turn requires both completing the renewable electricity transition and deploying process heat electrification or clean fuel switching across all manufacturing sites.
- 2030 climate goals: 100% renewable electricity; carbon neutral in Scope 1+2 (market-based); enhanced full value chain Scope 3 tracking
- 2030 waste goals: Zero waste to landfill (less than 0.5% of routine operations); 100% plastic waste beneficial use; at least 90% plastic recycled or reused; sustainability design principles in all new products
- 2030 water goals: Water stress management plans implemented at all water-stressed sites; 100% PNEC compliance for own sites and contract manufacturers
- 2030 social goal: 30 million people reached annually in resource-limited settings through Lilly 30×30
- 2050 net zero: All global operations committed to net zero by 2050 per the UK Carbon Reduction Plan
- Renewable electricity trajectory: 58.3% in 2024; must reach 100% by 2030, requiring an additional 41.7 percentage points in 6 years, or approximately 6.9 percentage points per year
- Scope 1 pathway: 192,000 MT CO2e (2024) must reach near zero by 2030 through process heat electrification, fuel switching, and efficiency deployment across new and existing manufacturing
- Scope 3 development: No quantified reduction target published; expected to formalize as Lilly’s tracking and reporting infrastructure matures toward the 2030 reporting enhancement goal
Source
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/climate
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/waste
https://assets.ctfassets.net/kwv2olrxu6pq/3FC45BMJaAVuYg0EkoDVgw/f7ab68aa225eef4ba692a274d5372f33/UK_Carbon_Reduction_Plan_December_2024.pdf
Comparisons to Industry Competitors
Lilly’s nearest pharmaceutical peers by growth trajectory and ESG disclosure architecture are AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Novartis, all of which publish externally assured ESG datasets covering comparable reporting periods. The comparison highlights the dimensions where Lilly leads, tracks, or significantly lags its peer group.
Lilly’s renewable electricity at 58.3% in 2024, achieved through a near-doubling in one year, positions it ahead of Pfizer’s 14.4% but behind AstraZeneca’s 95% and Novartis’s 96%. The most significant competitive gap is the absence of an absolute Scope 3 reduction target, a commitment that all three peers have formalized, leaving Lilly’s 6,174,000 MT CO2e Scope 3 footprint without a quantified reduction pathway. On social impact, Lilly’s $4.2 billion in free medicines provided in 2024 and the 70% insulin list price reduction are among the most quantified access commitments in the sector, comparable in ambition to Novartis’s LMIC patient access programs and AstraZeneca’s Healthy Heart Africa initiative.
Source
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/climate
https://tracenable.com/company/astrazeneca/ghg-emissions
https://cdn.pfizer.com/pfizercom/2024_KPI_Table_Final_062625.pdf
https://www.novartis.com/sites/novartis_com/files/novartis-update-public-commitments-2025.pdf
What to Watch: 12 to 18 Month Indicators
Three specific signals will determine whether Lilly’s sustainability trajectory maintains its operational momentum or reveals structural limitations in the 2025 and 2026 reporting cycles.
Renewable electricity update for 2025. Lilly doubled its renewable electricity share from 28.4% in 2023 to 58.3% in 2024, driven by new VPPA and green tariff contracting alongside new facility commissioning. The 2025 sustainability data, expected in mid-2026, will confirm whether this pace of expansion was sustained. A 2025 figure above 75% would signal that the 100% by 2030 target is operationally achievable at current procurement pace, requiring approximately 25 additional percentage points in five years. A figure below 65% would indicate that the 2024 step-change was a one-time contracted delivery rather than a sustainable annual expansion trajectory, putting the 2030 carbon neutrality target at serious risk.
Scope 1 trajectory amid continued manufacturing expansion. Scope 1 emissions rose from 159,000 MT CO2e in 2020 to 192,000 MT CO2e in 2024, a 20.8% increase driven entirely by new facility combustion and process energy. For Lilly to achieve carbon neutrality in Scope 1+2 by 2030, Scope 1 must reverse direction and approach zero, which requires electrifying process heat or transitioning to clean fuels at newly commissioned manufacturing sites currently operating on direct energy combustion. The 2025 data will provide the first indication of whether the process heat decarbonization program has begun delivering measurable Scope 1 reductions or whether absolute Scope 1 continues to rise with each new facility start-up.
Formal Scope 3 absolute reduction target publication. Lilly is the only major pharmaceutical company among its primary peers without a quantified Scope 3 absolute reduction target. As Scope 3 stands at 6,174,000 MT CO2e and rising, the absence of a target is the most visible ESG governance gap in the 2024 report. The 2025 sustainability report, or a separate CDP submission, would be the natural vehicle for formalizing a Scope 3 target. Any commitment matching or exceeding SBTi supplier engagement guidance (covering at least 67% of total Scope 3) would represent a material upgrade to the ESG program and significantly improve comparability with peers.
Source
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/climate
https://assets.ctfassets.net/1o78rkhl3da6/718Qq8KNW0Mt1M0uSpU3fi/af3ea16ec8054f7f6ae9448045f4b563/Lilly_2024_Sustainability_Data_Tables.xlsx
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/waste
Lilly’s 2024 sustainability program presents a clear internal contradiction: the company’s renewable electricity acceleration is among the most impressive single-year expansions in the pharmaceutical peer group, yet the same business growth driving that investment is simultaneously pushing Scope 1, Scope 3, water, energy, and hazardous waste figures to new highs. The 37% Scope 1+2 reduction from the 2020 baseline is a genuine achievement, delivered entirely through Scope 2 market-based improvements, but Scope 1 has increased 20.8% over the same period, confirming that operational decarbonization has not yet reached the direct combustion and process heat systems that manufacturing expansion has been adding.
The Scope 3 situation is the most strategically important gap in the portfolio. At 6,174,000 MT CO2e in 2024 and rising at 20.1% year-over-year, without an absolute reduction target, Lilly’s value chain footprint will represent an increasing share of total pharmaceutical sector Scope 3 emissions as Mounjaro and Zepbound scale globally. The company’s Scope 3 tracking enhancement goal is the weakest of any major pharmaceutical peer’s Scope 3 commitment; formalizing an SBTi-aligned target is the single most impactful governance action available to Lilly’s sustainability team in the next 12 to 18 months.
Three strategic takeaways stand out for practitioners benchmarking or replicating Lilly’s approach:
- Rapid renewable electricity procurement is achievable at scale during manufacturing expansion if contracting decisions are made alongside facility commissioning. Lilly’s 29.9-percentage-point renewable electricity increase in a single year was enabled by VPPA and green tariff contracting decisions made during the same capital cycle that commissioned new tirzepatide manufacturing facilities. Practitioners planning manufacturing scale-ups should integrate renewable energy contracting into the facility design and financing approval process, not as a subsequent sustainability initiative, so that new capacity comes online with clean electricity from day one.
- A 97.5% water recycle and reuse rate is achievable in pharmaceutical manufacturing and should be treated as the sector standard for new facility design. Lilly maintains this rate across 32 facilities with varying water intensity profiles, including injectable medicine production requiring ultra-purified water. Practitioners designing water management programs for pharmaceutical or high-water-intensity manufacturing should benchmark against this rate, use it as a minimum specification in new facility engineering standards, and embed recirculation system design into capital approvals before construction.
- The absence of a Scope 3 absolute reduction target is an increasing reputational and institutional investor risk, not a technical limitation. Lilly has the data infrastructure to set a Scope 3 target, having tracked and reported value chain emissions since 2021 across multiple categories with external assurance. The decision not to set an absolute reduction target while Scope 3 rises at 20% per year is a governance choice, not a data maturity constraint. Practitioners advising companies on ESG target architecture should note that a tracking-only Scope 3 goal is increasingly treated by institutional investors and ESG ratings agencies as equivalent to no target, regardless of the quality of the underlying tracking methodology.
Source
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/climate
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/waste
https://sustainability.lilly.com/environmental/water
https://assets.ctfassets.net/1o78rkhl3da6/718Qq8KNW0Mt1M0uSpU3fi/af3ea16ec8054f7f6ae9448045f4b563/Lilly_2024_Sustainability_Data_Tables.xlsx
https://accesstomedicinefoundation.org/company/eli-lilly-co
https://www.novartis.com/sites/novartis_com/files/novartis-update-public-commitments-2025.pdf
https://cdn.pfizer.com/pfizercom/2024_KPI_Table_Final_062625.pdf
https://sciencebasedtargets.org/companies-taking-action/case-studies/net-zero-case-study-astrazeneca
