Marking milestones on the road to net zero

· Sustainability

Marking milestones on the road to net zero

The SBTi is a partnership between the Carbon Disclosure Project, the UN Global Compact, the World Resources Institute, and the World Wide Fund for Nature. It independently assesses and approves companies’ carbon-reduction targets according to strict criteria, promoting best practices for large-scale climate action in the private sector. INTEGRA is dedicated to sustainable science and making a lasting positive impact on the environment, and joined the SBTi in September 2022, publicly committing to reducing our corporate greenhouse gas emissions across all of the initiative’s 3 scopes. These targets were validated by SBTi in August 2023.

Scope 1 includes all direct emissions from owned or controlled sources, such as business travel in company cars or the combustion of fuels in heating systems.

Scope 2 includes all indirect emissions from the production of purchased energy consumed by the company.

We pledged to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions by 46 percent by 2031, from a 2021 base year. We also committed to increasing our use of renewable energy sources from 48 in 2021 to 100 percent by 2030.

Scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions within the supply chain, encompassing upstream processes during the production of raw materials, and downstream processes such as the distribution, use and end-of-life treatment of products.

We pledged to reduce these emissions by 52 percent per revenue by 2029, from a 2019 base year.

Going green through efficient transportation

Our carbon report from 2022 shows that the transport of raw materials and products accounts for 44 percent of our CO2 emissions, and 75 percent of this is attributed to the transport of GRIPTIPS® pipette tips alone. We have already launched our ECO rack GRIPTIPS to reduce the amount of plastic and weight that needs to be transported. We also ship our products by sea instead of air freight whenever possible. The next logical step was therefore to reduce our pipette tip transport emissions, and this is now one of our top priorities.

Greenhouse gas emissions report for INTEGRA Biosciences in 2022.
An overview of INTEGRA’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2022 by category. Transport emissions include procurement and distribution. Waste and recycling emissions are generated in operation and end of life disposal. Other emissions include those generated by office and IT materials, investments and food.

Relocating tip production to cut carbon emissions 

Plans to construct a pipette tip production facility at our Swiss headquarters in Zizers were already underway when we committed to the SBTi. We’re happy to announce that construction was completed in December 2023, and manufacturing will soon begin! Until now, INTEGRA has molded all its pipette tips in the USA, and shipped them from there to our Swiss headquarters, our subsidiaries and distributors worldwide. Having a second tip production facility in Switzerland will eliminate the need to ship pipette tips from the USA to our European customers, helping to reduce our corporate transport emissions by an estimated 26 percent.

Automation line in the new tip molding facility in Zizers, Switzerland.
Automation line in the new tip molding facility in Zizers, Switzerland.

Leading the way in sustainable construction

We have also built additional office spaces, a restaurant and a fully automated high bay warehouse alongside the new manufacturing facility on the existing Zizers site, forming an entire green campus. The new INTEGRA buildings were designed with sustainability in mind, and include several eco-friendly features to support our commitment to the SBTi:

  • Buildings have low energy consumption and excellent insolation values
  • A 3000 m2 photovoltaic system on the roof provides electricity
  • Heat generated by the pipette tip molding facility and fossil fuel-free heat pumps are being used to heat the campus
  • Additional purchased electricity is generated by hydropower
  • The new restaurant uses regional and organic products wherever possible and meat meals are less subsidized by INTEGRA
  • The campus reuses packaging material, and provides recycling stations on every floor, to reduce waste disposal
  • 1625 m2 of roof space will be seeded with 50 species of native wildflowers to support local biodiversity

INTEGRA is proud to be participating in the SBTi! We’re excited to keep track of our green achievements over the coming years, and we’ll keep you updated as we continue our journey towards net zero.

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