Social and environmental commitments

In recognition of our commitment to sustainability, our business is now a Certified B Corp, from the global sustainability non-profit B Lab. Since 2019, we have embedded our purpose to generate shared value both for our business, for society and the environment, and are proud to have successfully achieved B Corp recertification in 2022. To find out more about Chiesi’s B Corp recertification, see our Annual Sustainability Report.

What does it mean to be a B Corp?

Certified B Corporations, or B Corps, are companies verified by non-profit B Lab to meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability. The goal of B Corp certification is to bring like-minded businesses together in a global movement to redefine business as a force for good. All B Corps share a common characteristic – to have their actions as focused on their impact on society and the environment as they are on commercial success.

To be part of the selective group of B Corp companies means to live up to the high standards for people and the planet. We are joined in B Corp status by over 8000 businesses in more than 95 countries including Ben & Jerry’s, Patagonia, The Body Shop, and TOMS – all leading the way in their respective sectors to motivate a cultural shift to a more considered and sustainable economy for future generations.

What does B Corp mean to Chiesi?

B Corp are for-profit companies that use the power of business to build a more inclusive and sustainable economy, by meeting the high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability. Achieving the B Corp status is one of the most important and transparent steps to achieving our vision, adopting a culture of continuous improvement, towards a sustainable future, using our business as a force for good.

Our B Corp status gives us a robust, independent framework to make sure our words and intentions become tangible actions. It pushes us to think beyond profits when creating our business strategies, internal processes and activities. Our B Corp governance means any decision our board of directors makes needs to take into account the wider impact it may have on people, the planet, and society as a whole.

Chiesi has embedded four common benefit goals into our company ethos, which define our profile as a B Corp. These focus on operating in a sustainable, transparent and responsible way towards society and the environment, thus embedding the concept of creating shared value into how we put our actions into words.

Common benefit purposes

Improving people’s health, wellbeing and quality of life.

Continuously innovating the sustainability of all company processes and practices in order to minimise negative impacts and to amplify positive impacts on people, the biosphere and the community, in pursuit of an economy with net-zero GHG emissions, in line with European objectives on climate neutrality and national objectives on ecological transition.

Promoting a conscious and sustainable way of doing business, by fostering a collaborative dialogue among sustainable stakeholders.

Contributing to the development of the local communities in which the company operates.

Chiesi’s code of interdependence

Our work does not only address our own Net Zero journey, but also that of our partners. Chiesi passionately believes that if we want to accelerate sustainable development, it is essential that our entire chain of processes and activities related to our operations, be that primary or support activities, and responds to the social and sustainability criteria that we are committed to.

Chiesi has the ambition to set up and run a supply chain where purpose and positive values determine every stage. We envisage a system where each supplier collaborates with us, moving in the same direction with the same ethics. This is why we have designed and developed a joint initiative in partnership with our strategic suppliers, which we refer to as Chiesi’s Code of Interdependence, based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Our Code aims to help us review and act on every aspect of our operations, recognising the impact of each supplier and process, so we can evolve a more sustainable ecosystem together.

Chiesi’s actions in our local communities

Sustainability at Chiesi also means recognising the strong interdependence between a company and the system in which it operates, including the local community; the success of the former is inextricably linked to the prosperity of the latter, and vice versa.

We therefore want to contribute our skills and resources towards the development of the communities we live in, and to do our part in promoting long-term, integrated and sustainable growth. Examples include:

• Support of the Greggs Foundation’s Breakfast Club initiative, which provide Breakfast Clubs at primary schools across the UK. Chiesi currently funds 11 breakfast clubs, providing the initial funding for set-up, then involving our employees through activities such as additional fundraising for the school, volunteering in the school or helping with other projects.
• Active encouragement of all our employees to volunteer in order to make a positive impact in local communities. We are especially proud of our UK colleagues who give so much of their time volunteering, amassing in excess of 3100 hours throughout 2021 in the communities in which they live and work.

We also recognise healthcare professionals face a uniquely difficult demand in keeping pace with ever-evolving science and growing treatment options, at the same time as managing exceptional workloads. We believe the pharmaceutical industry has a responsibility to alleviate this burden. We have therefore co-created with thought-leaders and clinical experts to provide high-quality, on-demand knowledge & skills training, face-to-face networking programmes and educational resources. Over the past five years alone, we have run more than 4,000 meetings, supporting thousands of NHS staff in their personal development goals.

We are Chiesi. And we are proud to be part of the global B Corp movement.