Climate

Increased procurement of renewable electricity is a key driver of recent reductions and integral to our near-term strategy to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. At the end of 2021, 22% of global electricity came from renewable sources, a 69% increase over the prior year. Since then, more than 150 Thermo Fisher sites have now achieved 100% renewable electricity. Our approach is centered around the concept of “additionality” — or directly supporting the development of new renewable generation sources. We do this by adding renewable systems at our sites and leveraging long- term power purchasing agreements (PPAs) with new wind and solar facilities. Thanks to virtual PPAs signed with Enel North America, EDF Renewables, and ib vogt, Thermo Fisher will power all of our current U.S. sites with 100 percent wind and solar electricity by 2026, and over half of our addressable European sites with 100 percent renewable electricity by 2025.

In addition, we are continually conducting energy assessments at our largest manufacturing facilities to help plan our transition away from fossil fuels. Prioritizing high-emission sites that represent more than 50% of our Scope 1 and Scope 2 footprint, the most recent findings have uncovered opportunities to eliminate over 80,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, approximately 25% of our fossil fuel-related emissions. Several of these projects are already underway. Always looking to leverage best practices and our continuous improvement culture, we have also developed a net-zero building design playbook to support new and existing facilities in our journey toward net-zero.

Our supply chain is our largest source of emissions, representing more than 90% of the greenhouse gas emissions generated within our value chain. With the development of a supplier engagement program for climate change, we can greatly reduce our environmental impact as a Company and sector. 
 

We took on a robust body of work to calculate the baseline for our Scope 3 emissions. To encourage a similar investment in reporting and emissions reduction, we have established our first near-term Scope 3 target. For suppliers that represent 90% of our Scope 3 emissions from (1) Purchased Goods and Services and (2) Upstream Transportation and Distribution, Thermo Fisher will engage them in setting climate-related, science-based targets by 2027. 
 

Based on early reporting and interactions, we were able to immediately support foundational change. To read more about the actions we are taking with our suppliers, please refer to the Operations section.

Water is essential to the well-being of all people and the planet, and good-quality freshwater is also a vital component for the successful production of our products. With increased demand for this natural resource, we have developed systems for our sites that allow water to be reused and recycled. This enables greater production efficiency and reduces energy consumption when reheating water for steam processes.

In 2021, our water use decreased by 13% compared to the previous year. These reductions can be attributed to process improvements and optimizations at several manufacturing facilities. We continue to accelerate the uncoupling of water usage and growth, and on a revenue-adjusted basis, reduced water intensity by 28%.
 

To identify and manage water risks across our portfolio of sites, we transitioned to using the World Wildlife Fund’s Water Risk Filter tool. This tool identifies and evaluates water risks around the world, including water scarcity and flooding. We conducted a high- level screening of basin-level water risks across 227 Thermo Fisher manufacturing and warehouse sites. Twelve sites were identified as being in a high-risk basin, representing 6% of our water usage. In 2022 we will combine this screening with a criticality assessment to determine our water risk exposure and develop steps to address these risks.

Continually working to minimize our impact on the environment, we actively seek opportunities to reduce the amount of waste generated through our operations. We are exploring circular business models to maximize resource efficiency and create new solutions for our customers and our own operations. Our approach to waste also follows the waste hierarchy outlined by the US EPA, where we prioritize source reduction followed by reuse and recycling.

Our Zero Waste program is implemented at the site level to closely manage our waste streams. We define “zero waste” as diverting 90 percent or more waste from landfill through reuse, recycling and, as a last resort, incineration, when used to generate energy. Our efforts are targeted at reducing the amount of waste we generate and send to landfill while lowering our operating costs.

Through our Zero Waste Playbook, we provide our sites guidance for working toward Zero Waste certification. A five-step process, powered by our PPI Business System, engages our colleagues to implement waste-minimizing changes in processes and procurement strategies.

In 2021, we continued to explore new recycling options for single-use lab plastics, including repurposing these plastics into durable and highly-reusable shipping pallets. For more information on our waste initiatives, visit our Product End of Life page.