AstraZeneca goes for natural gas energy

AstraZeneca, often at the forefront of biopharma’s sustainability efforts, is making a big play to support renewable natural gas in its home country.

Through a £100 million, 15-year commitment with U.K. clean energy provider Future Biogas, the partners plan to establish the first “unsubsidised industrial-scale supply of biomethane gas” in the U.K.

With enough renewable natural gas to supply around 8,000 homes – the gas will help power AZ’s Macclesfield, Cambridge, Luton and Speke sites by early 2025.  

Once operational, the biomethane facility will use locally grown crops as feedstock, supporting farms and initiating the development of a “circular agricultural economy,” AZ said.

AZ’s Macclesfield facility is the U.K.’s largest drug development and manufacturing site. The site will undergo a “major refit” of its heat and power plant to slash emissions.

The partners hope the move will provide a blueprint for other organizations looking to scale up renewable natural gas and cut emissions.

As for AstraZeneca, the company aims to halve its carbon footprint by 2030 and become net-zero by 2045 “at the latest.”  And the partnership with Future Biogas is only one of AZ’s recent sustainability efforts.