The British Standards Institution, BSI, has released the world’s first global standard designed to measure the environmental footprint of pharmaceutical products.
“Developed through robust, multi-stakeholder collaboration, [PAS 2090] 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,” said Susan Taylor Martin, Chief Executive of BSI.
The new specification, known as PAS 2090, introduces a harmonised and practical framework for life cycle assessments (LCAs) of medicines.
This gives pharmaceutical companies a consistent way to evaluate and report environmental impacts from production through to end-of-life.
The new framework offers organisations at different stages of data maturity a way to assess and report on environmental impacts of pharmaceutical products.
The PAS standard is voluntary and does not require industry to apply it or comply with it.
The standard does not require primary data for activities outside of a company’s operational control, which makes it appropriate for all segments of the industry from generic, innovative and global.
How the framework was developed
The framework was developed through a multi-stakeholder, consensus-building process.
It involved input from academia, health systems, regulators, aid organisations focused on access to medicines, consultancies, and pharmaceutical manufacturers.
In total, 475 stakeholders across 35 countries were engaged through a digital hub and over 400 comments were considered from a public consultation held in June.
The standard was supported by NHS England, the Office for Life Sciences (OLS) and the Pharmaceutical LCA Consortium, which is a collaboration between with the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) Health Systems Task Force and the Pharmaceutical Environment Group (PEG).
Help implementing PAS 2090 global framework
The launch of PAS 2090 supports the SMI Health Systems Task Force’s commitment to align on a common LCA framework for the pharmaceutical industry.
To encourage adoption, the PharmaLCA Consortium is developing additional implementation tools, including technical guidance, a sector-specific LCI database in collaboration with ecoinvent and Boehringer Ingelheim.
A PAS 2090-compliant LCA tool is also expected in 2026.
The database’s first release, more than 180 regionalised datasets, is planned for Q4 2025.
Energy use in pharma processes is significantly affected by initial design decisions, making it an excellent opportunity for improving lifecycle cost visibility at an early stage.
However, sustainability reviews often take place when designs are already nearly finalised.
The new standard may assist in evaluating the environmental impacts of pharmaceutical products, especially when it comes to design decisions.