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Climate change and energy – The situation today

Energy is required during every step of a drug's life cycle, from manufacturing to storage and from employee protection to effluent and waste treatment.

Sanofi-aventis is aware that strict energy and greenhouse gas emissions management is essential in response to the challenges of global warming. It has developed a policy and an ambitious action plan to address this issue.  

The greenhouse effect is a natural phenomenon that is necessary for the survival of life on earth. Without it, the average temperature of our planet would be -18°C, compared to 15°C today. Controlling the excess greenhouse effect, with an average maximum increase in temperature of 2°C, would mean dividing global emissions by more than two, taking into account the differences in emissions per person (1.1 ton of carbon dioxide equivalent – or TCO2eq – for someone in India, 2.3 tons for someone in China, 6.6 in France, 8.4 on average in Europe, 10 in Russia, 20 in the US). Emissions would need to be divided by 4 to 5 in industrialized countries before the middle of this century. Because the phenomenon is a matter of accumulation, the longer we take to act, the more difficult it will be to return to a level of emissions that can be absorbed by the biosphere, the higher the atmospheric concentrations will be, and the greater the damage.

Energy is required to produce steam, hot and cold water, electricity and the gases necessary for operations and research activities. It is also necessary for the transport of raw materials and drugs. This energy is obtained by:

• burning fossil fuel (coal, oil or natural gas);
• burning renewable or recycled fuel (biomass, liquid and solid wastes, biofuels);
• without combustion: hydroelectricity, solar energy, wind energy, nuclear energy.

For the same amount of energy obtained, the quantity of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere may be zero, as is the case for hydroelectricity, or it may be substantial, as with the use of coal, particularly using conventional techniques.

The increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases creates an artificial surplus and causes global warming. Greenhouse gases resulting from human activity have intensified this phenomenon over the past two centuries.   

• Consult the report "Facts & Trends to 2050: Energy & climate change" (overview of key facts and societal challenges related to economic development, future energy demand and the impact that demand could have on the climate system)
• Go to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change website (I.P.C.C)