1、Pick your battles!REPORTESG in pharmaceuticals Environmental,social and governance(or ESG)criteria are becoming an integral part of day-to-day decisions and business strategies in every industry.The pharmaceutical sector faces distinct ESG challenges that include equitable access to medicines,pressu
2、re to innovate and supply chain control.Yet existing ESG assessment frameworks are often too narrow and fail to fully evaluate these unique considerations.In response,the Roland Berger Pharma ESG framework integrates 13 industry-agnostic indicators plus five more that are specific to the pharmaceuti
3、cals sector.Based on this framework,analysis of the ESG posture and performance of the top 30 pharmaceutical companies by market capitalization in 2024 reveals three key takeaways:First,there is still significant room for ESG improvement across the pharmaceutical industry.While key material topics(s
4、uch as patient safety)achieve high average scores,social indicators remain underreported despite their critical importance.Second,three clusters of pharmaceutical companies with different levels of ESG maturity can be identified:1.ESG initiators comply with basic ESG requirements and focus on identi
5、fying ESG risksand opportunities in key dimensions,but the goals they set are limited in scope.2.ESG aspirers go beyond these basics in terms of actual performance,but their tools and strategies for other indicators are still a work in progress.3.ESG frontrunners achieve the highest overall scores,a
6、re the most mature across all indicators and deliver a measurable impact.Third,many pharmaceutical companies have adopted a selective approach to ESG,seeking to set themselves apart on specific ESG lighthouse indicators.While lighthouses give companies an edge over their peers,this alone does not ma