Episode 076 | October 2, 2023 | 25:03
Guest: Gitte Larsen (Chiesi, Market Access Manager)
Published: October 2, 2023
Duration: 25:03
Description
Frederik Van Deurs hosts Gitte Larsen from Chiesi — the first global top-50 pharmaceutical company to achieve a B Corp certification. Chiesi, a family-owned company based in Italy, specializes in respiratory treatments, neonatal care, and rare diseases. Our guest shares insight about the B Corp certification, which assesses a company’s sustainability across five pillars.
Full transcript
About this transcript
This transcript was automatically generated and may contain inaccuracies, typos, or mistranslations. Episodes recorded before 2024 were transcribed by an on-site model and may have a higher error rate. The content reflects the original conversation to the best of our ability. For the authoritative version, please listen to the audio episode.
Hello, and welcome to the Sustainable Healthcare Podcast. The healthcare sector is responsible for between 4 and 6% of all global carbon emissions, and it is only going to go in one direction — up. Today we are transmitting live from the Climate People Meeting in Middelfart. With me is Gitte from Chiesi — the first global top-50 pharma company to achieve a B Corp certification.
Gitte: My name is Gitte Kjaergaard Larsen. I have been in the industry for 20+ years, started at Chiesi in 2017 as a key account manager, and for the last two years I have been a market access manager in Denmark.
Chiesi is a family-owned company in Italy. In 1935 the chemist Giacomo Chiesi founded it. In 1976 Chiesi launched the first inhaler product for lung treatment — the turning point. Today it is an international company with R&D and manufacturing of pharmaceuticals. Focus areas: respiratory treatments (COPD and asthma), neonatology (premature babies), and rare diseases. We also have special treatments.
You can have COPD if you are a farmer or in any job with pollution — you do not have to be a smoker. In neonatology we have a product for premature babies — when they get born blue, we give them our product and they go pink right away.
On benefit corporation vs B Corp: not to be confused. Benefit corporation is a legal company form in Italy, France and the US. B Corp is a certification. It is a holistic certification — measures 360 degrees around the company: operations, employees. A really hard certification to get.
Frederik: I am a trained B Leader so I can guide companies through it but cannot grant the stamp — it is awarded by B Lab, a non-profit. There are 220 questions across five pillars: environment, workers, customers, community, and governance. Compared to other standards that have maybe 21 review points, B Corp’s 220 questions give insanely high level of detail.
Being a benefit corporation means the articles of association demand Chiesi to have a higher purpose than just profit — forcing the board to look at societal impact when making decisions rather than just profit for the next quarter.
Gitte: For customers — the patient needs access to medicine, the doctor needs to focus on the right treatment. For community — giving back. In Chiesi we use 20% of our income for R&D, and we give to charity. In Denmark we support “COPD on Street Levels” — people on the street die 19 years earlier than the public on average. We support a clinic, a bus driving around the capital, and a lung choir for people with lung diseases for better quality of life.
For environment: Chiesi wants to be climate neutral by 2035 across scope 1, 2 and 3. We drive electric cars. In meetings we serve vegetarian food. Look in our sustainability report — 175 pages — you can see scope 1, 2 and 3, employees, gender breakdown, climate.
The car-washing problem: it is not easy. I have tried calling all of them and asking what they do — they say they are the best but I cannot find anything about it. It is difficult for the customer to choose. Every employee in Chiesi is on a sustainability pathway — you cannot take a flight if it is less than four hours in a car. This year we have been working on only one cup of water a day at the office. A lot of small things — but car wash is a jungle.
Frederik: Going through 220 questions, a lot of things become apparent. Now we have a breastfeeding policy. As a company with male founders we never had reason to think of it. What B Corp does well is force you to take action. You have to be prepared this opens up a lot of difficult conversations — share capital for employees, even pay structure, diversity and inclusion in recruitment.
Gitte: It is a non-profit organization that looks at it — you cannot buy it. You have to earn it. And you cannot just say “we are B Corp now, we are home safe.” You have to do it again every third year. The bar is raised constantly — biodiversity reporting was added recently.
The weighted point system means switching to renewable electricity gives a lot of points because it makes a big difference and is commoditized. Sustainable car wash supplier is the harder, non-commoditized one. As B Corp companies we put that pressure down the supply chain.
Advantage of certification: people apply for jobs at Chiesi because of the sustainability focus — purpose at work. We have made a sustainability manifesto in Sweden in the pharmaceutical industry called Lif. Chiesi would like to help the Nordics — Denmark, Finland, Norway — to have this kind of manifesto.
Sustainability is more than environment — it is environment, governance, social sustainability and economic sustainability. People get confused and think only climate.
Frederik: The geography dependence matters. Green Innovation Group is in Denmark — government takes care of health insurance, schooling, daycare, so we have many non-applicable scores. In the US there are a lot of points to be awarded if you take care of your workers.
Frederik: Advice for pharma or medtech companies considering B Corp?
Gitte: I hope they will follow us. It is hard work, a long journey, many hours. But remember sustainability is not a competition — it is more a mindset. You have to want to work with this. Jump on the train. Call Gitte if you have any questions.
Thank you Gitte for being on the show and sharing Chiesi’s journey to B Corp certification. You have been listening to the Sustainable Healthcare Podcast live from the People’s Climate Meeting in Middelfart.