Reducing Our Climate Impact

Pressurised metered dose inhalers (pMDIs) are life-saving devices for millions of patients with conditions like asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Unfortunately, the propellants traditionally used in pMDIs are potent greenhouse gases with high global warming potential (GWP) – forcing a trade-off between human and environmental health.

Leading the green transition

As a trusted market leader in pMDI products, we have a responsibility to transition to low GWP propellants without disrupting our customers’ critical supply of trusted devices to the patients who rely on them.

After early successes with our customers and research partners, we added new high-speed manufacturing equipment capable of producing pMDIs using low GWP propellants, HFA-152a and HFO-1234ze(E). Their environmental impact is 100 times and 1,000 times lower than that of currently used propellants, respectively. 

Our product feasibility and development laboratories have been fully equipped to develop pMDIs with HFO-1234ze since 2022. In 2024, we invested significantly in our operations to ensure we can supply pMDIs manufactured with both low GWP propellants available to the market:

  • Solstice Advanced Materials Inc Solstice® Air HFO-1234ze(E): 99.9% lower GWP than currently used propellants

  • Orbia Fluor & Energy Materials Zephex® HFA-152a: 90% lower GWP than currently used propellants

Learn more about how we manufacture with low GWP propellants.

Lifecycle assessments

We’re expanding our use of lifecycle assessments (LCAs) to assess the cumulative environmental impacts of the energy and materials that go into our products and identify the carbon- and resource-intensive hotspots in our processes and materials. LCAs give us a deeper understanding of how we can reduce our environmental impacts and continue to drive progress towards our environmental goals.

Our goal is to conduct LCAs on our product portfolio, evaluating how we can effectively reduce the impacts of our products, while certifying and publishing our results along the way.

Learn more about our first life cycle assessment for our pressurised Metered Dose Inhaler valve.

Partnering for success

Collaboration is a key driver of our success. We partner with our suppliers in the earliest stages of product development to identify more sustainable materials and capture opportunities to avoid resource extraction and waste. Our research partnerships harness the technical expertise of all parties to accelerate progress in product development and manufacturing.

We also collaborate with like-minded customers who share our commitment to decarbonising their value chains, providing end-to-end support to achieve our shared commercial and sustainability goals.

Sustainable operations

We’re on track to finalise and submit our emissions targets to the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). Our strategy to achieve net zero emissions has three main drivers:

  • Energy and emissions reductions - On a monthly basis, our facilities teams meet to track and develop energy efficiency projects across the business, including equipment upgrades, automation and energy reduction initiatives.

  • Renewable energy - Our Holmes Chapel operation has 2,300 on-site solar panels, providing 6% of the site’s total energy, including 100% renewable electricity. Our King’s Lynn site procures 100% renewable electricity, and offsets 100% of our natural gas with Certified Emissions Reductions.

  • Low GWP propellants - In 2024, propellant pollutants contributed over 84% of our direct emissions, making the transition to low GWP propellants our most significant opportunity to reduce Scope 2 emissions. In 2025, we will expand our operations with one additional high-speed low GWP propellant commercial filling lines planned.

Want to know more about our ESG initiatives?

We're excited to release our first ever ESG report. Underlining our commitment to championing sustainability across the inhalation supply chain.