European Federation of PharmaceuticalIndustries and AssociationsAdvancing Environmental Sustainability Assessmentof Pharmaceuticals through Standardisation andHarmonisation of Product Carbon Footprint AssessmentOHExecutiveSummaryThe innovative pharmaceutical industry asA widely accepted cross-national standard has yetrepresented by the European Federation ofto be established,despite the pressing need forPharmaceutical Industries and Associationsstandardisation and harmonisation.This gap has(EFPIA)is committed to climate action andbeen recognised,and in response "PAS 2090:2025,further environmental sustainability aspects.1Pharmaceutical products-Product category rules forIncreasingly,policymakers,healthcare systems,environmental life cycle assessments"3-has beenbuyers,and the wider society are calling fordeveloped by key stakeholders across industry (e.g.transparent,product-level environmentalSustainable Markets Initiative,Pharma Environmentinformation,primarily Product Carbon FootprintsGroup),academia,and healthcare,together with the(PCF),as the expectation for granular data growsBritish Standards Institution (BSI)and with the co-across all industries.sponsorship of NHS England and the Office for LifeSciences (UK).PAS 2090 is the first publicly availableTo date,there's been an absence of harmonised PCFspecification to establish harmonised Productor Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)2 standards tailoredCategory Rules(PCR)for conducting LCAs andspecifically to pharmaceuticals,leading to significantPCFs of pharmaceutical products.The standard wasmethodological discrepancies between companies,published on the 30th November 2025'.PASand resulting in inconsistent and potentially2090 sets minimum requirements for data quality,misleading results.methodological consistency,and reporting,and isdesigned to be internationally applicable.Without standardisation of environmental footprint methodologies across the healthcareand pharmaceutical sectors,several risks emerge,including:Reduced credibility of environmental claims and perceptions of greenwashing;Procurement decisions being shaped by methodological discrepancies rather than by the actualsustainability performance of products and operations;Regulatory inefficiencies from duplicated efforts and inconsistent data;Missing the opportunity to make progress towards sustainable products,innovation andcollaboration.https://www.efpia.eu/media/554662/white-paper-climate-change.pdf2 LCA is a globally recognised method for evaluating environmental impacts,including the carbon footprint,across a product's life cycle1S014044:20061https:/knowledge.bsigroup.com/products/pharmaceutical-products-product-category-rules-for-life-cycle-assessments-specification2