Decarbonising heat in life sciences manufacturing
Heat is one of the most carbon‑intensive elements of pharmaceutical, biotech and med‑tech manufacturing.
As companies respond to increasing supply chain pressure (for example, from the NHS’ Net Zero Supplier Roadmap) as well as meet their own net zero commitments, it’s imperative that they are proactive in decarbonising heat across their operations.
Why is heat decarbonisation important?
Processes such as sterilisation, solvent recovery, drying, reaction heating, fermentation, water‑for‑injection generation, and HVAC for cleanrooms all rely heavily on steam or high‑grade thermal energy.
Decarbonising heat is therefore critical to reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions, and especially complex across an industry where energy use is tightly coupled to product quality, safety and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP).
The need to decarbonise heat is made more acute by wider supply chain pressure. One of the clearest examples of this is the NHS, one of the world’s largest buyers of medicines and medical products, which has introduced stringent carbon‑related procurement requirements that increasingly affect life sciences manufacturers.
For example, from April 2027, all NHS suppliers will be required to publicly report targets and emissions, and publish a Carbon Reduction Plan for global emissions aligned to the NHS net zero target. This is for all their Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
Product footprint pressure
Focus on product footprints has increased in recent years. This is evidenced by the standards being developed to help calculate them, and it points to another driver for heat decarbonisation.
The PAS 2090 standard and the Tf PCF Guidelines (which, while focused on the chemicals industry, are intended as open source for other industries using chemical materials) are two examples.
It’s easy to imagine that the availability of such standards, which enable companies to quantify emissions associated with individual products, will lead to greater demand for evidenced footprints and reduction plans across supply chains and throughout procurement processes.
Process heat contributes heavily to embedded carbon in APIs and finished pharmaceuticals. Therefore, meeting product‑level carbon footprint disclosure requirements is another reason companies are striving to reduce thermal energy demand and switch to low‑carbon heat sources.
How to decarbonise heat in your life science manufacturing operations
For many applications across the life sciences industry, there are a wide variety of heat decarbonisation solutions, each with different availability, maturity and effectiveness levels to consider. It can be hard to know which ones would work best in the specific context of your organisation. That’s why our team of engineers created a detailed guide - to take you through the key elements of each of the options. They’ve been navigating the complexity of manufacturing processes, across industries, for years, and can give specialist advice on the most efficient and effective ways forward.
In addition to downloading the guide and reading more about the available solutions yourself, you can contact us directly to set up an introductory call using the button below.
