BSI launches a world-first environmental standard for the pharma industry

The first global standard to help manufacturers measure and assess the life cycle emissions of pharmaceutical products has been published by UK national standards body British Standards Institute (BSI).

The voluntary standard aims to minimise the environmental impact of medicines across their manufacture, supply, use and end of product life by enhancing the quality and consistency of environmental impact reporting. 

Pharmaceutical Products – Product Category Rules for Environmental Life Cycle Assessments (PAS 2090:2025) “sets a new global benchmark for environmental transparency in the pharmaceutical sector”, according to BSI Chief Executive, Susan Taylor Martin.

Backed by NHS England, the Office for Life Sciences (OLS) and the Pharmaceutical LCA Consortium, it offers “a practical and flexible framework that pharmaceutical organisations of all sizes can use to better understand and reduce the environmental impact of their products,” she added.

Not only is the standard applicable to all pharma industry sectors, from generic, innovative, and global suppliers, but it is appropriate for organisations at different stages of data maturity. For companies adhering to the standard, primary data for activities outside of operational control is not necessary.

How will the new PAS 2090 standard impact pharma manufacturers?

Pharma LCA Consortium is developing three key initiatives to accelerate adoption of the standard:  

• A technical guidance document  
• A PAS 2090-compliant Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) database tailored to the pharmaceutical sector, in collaboration with ecoinvent and Boehringer Ingelheim. The first release is set to be published by Q4 2025.  
• A PAS 2090-compliant LCA tool planned for release in November 2026. 

These initiatives will “significantly” increase the accessibility of life cycle assessments in pharma, especially for small and mid-sized companies, BSI acknowledged.

Claire Lund, Vice President, Sustainability, GSK said: “Developed through collaboration across the healthcare sector, PAS 2090 provides the consistency and transparency health systems need to help decarbonise care, while giving companies a practical framework to understand and reduce their product footprints.

“Ultimately, it will also help strengthen the resilience of the global supply chains that patients and healthcare providers rely on.” 

This news comes three years after the organisation launched a separate new manufacturing standard focused on antibiotics. It was implemented in part to help alleviate the environmental impact of these drugs. The organisation subsequently launched a certification for antibiotic manufacturers in 2023.