Sådan arbejder Novo Nordisk med TCFD

Man kan ikke sige CSR i Danmark uden at sige Novo Nordisk. Virksomhedens første miljørapport udkom i 1992, og i omkring 15 år har den tredobbelte bundlinje været officielt forankret i de officielle vedtægter – længe før de fleste af os lærte at sige purpose og stakeholders. 

Novo Nordisk var også den første virksomhed til at indgå et klimapartnerskab med Ørsted, som dengang hed DONG, om at reducere CO2-udledninger og samtidig gennem grønne certifikater være med til at finansiere opførelsen af en af DONG’s første havvindmølleparker. 

’En voksende og bredt anerkendt bekymring’
De senere år har der dog været, som Novo Nordisk skriver i deres årsskrift for 2019, ”… en voksende og bredt anerkendt bekymring for det globale miljø, især klimaforandringer”. Derfor er virksomhedens miljøafdeling gået i gang med at arbejde med de risici og muligheder, der opstår på baggrund af skiftende vejrmønstre, stigende vandstand og andre klimaforandringer. 

”Som anbefalet af ‘Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures’ benytter vi klimaforandringsscenarier til at identificere risici i forhold til produktionsfaciliteter og forsyningskæden på kort, mellemlangt og langt sigt for at sikre stabil levering af lægemidler til patienterne,” skriver Novo Nordisk således i afsnittet om risiko i årsskrift 2019. 

Virksomhedens TCFD-rapportering findes på en separat side på Novo Nordisks website – om end den ”trænger til en opdatering”, som de selv siger. I takt med at risiko forbundet med klimaforandringer integreres i de etablerede risk management-systemer, vil klimarisici, som vurderes som væsentlige på lige fod med øvrige risici, blive integreret i årsrapporten. 

CSR.dk bad Dorethe Nielsen, som er Vice President of Corporate Environmental Strategy i Novo Nordisk, svare på en række spørgsmål om deres arbejde med TCFD. Svarene fik vi i en mail, og de kan ses her:  

Why are you working with the TCFD framework - how did you get started? 
We have been using integrated reporting at Novo Nordisk since 2004, which includes disclosing various environmental metrics such as energy and water consumption, waste and CO2 emissions. When the TCFD recommendations were released, it was logical that they would be integrated into our existing environmental disclosures.

What drives you and how do you expect the outcomes will it benefit you?
Novo Nordisk strives to be a sustainable business, which means we must understand risks to the business – both in the short and long term. 

What are the steps in the process you have designed, how far have you come, and what are your next steps? 
Our first step was to conduct a maturity assessment based on the TCFD recommendations to understand what we were already doing well and where we could improve. We also conducted various workshops across the organisation to identify what kind of risks and opportunities related to climate change could exist for Novo Nordisk. 

This fall, we are starting to train the relevant production areas on how to identify and evaluate longer-term climate risks and report on them through our existing company-wide enterprise risk management process.

Which parts of the company have been an w be involved in this work?
Stakeholders across our Risk Office, Corporate Environmental Strategy, sustainability teams, Insurance and Risk Management and various production areas have been involved so far.

Can you tell us some of the outcomes of your work?
We disclose all our identified climate-related risks as a part of our CDP disclosure. Some concrete risks identified for our own operations include increasing intensity of hurricanes across the west coast of the US, rising sea levels and storm surges. We also know that we could see impacts on our supply chain based on changing weather patterns.

What are some of the changes made based on the TCFD-work?
A big change is developing training for risk coordinators to help them understand what constitutes a climate risk, how could it impact Novo Nordisk, and what tools are available for identifying these risks – both in the short and long term.

What are the most beneficial learnings you have had along the way? 
We have been amazed at the support from colleagues about climate risks. Even if the complexity behind identifying and mitigating climate risks is high, climate change is something that concerns all and something they would like to help solve.

What has been the most challenging so far? 
It has been challenging to figure out the best way to include longer-term risks in our disclosures. Everyone can relate to risks within the next 10 years, but sometimes we are talking 50+ years when it comes to climate risks.

Are there specific factors, that you can point to, which has helped you be successful in working with climate change as a risk?
It has been very helpful for us that environment and climate are a strategic priority at Novo Nordisk. Management know that environmental challenges have never been more critical or more urgent than they are today and very much support this agenda.

If you were to give advice to other companies, who have not worked with TCFD yet, what would that be? 
Take a step-wise approach to implementing the TCFD recommendations. They cannot be implemented overnight, so see this as a journey instead of one big project. We have been working on implementing the recommendations for two years and still have a ways to go on our journey. 

Also, be sure to train the organisation in TCFD.