At Abbott, we are committed to reducing our global environmental impacts across our business, from the sourcing of raw materials and the manufacturing and distribution of our products, to the use and disposal of our products by their end users.

We have set ambitious worldwide goals for the year 2020 that include:

• A 40 percent reduction in carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions from direct emissions or from sources we own or control.
• A 30 percent reduction in total water intake (adjusted for sales).
• A 50 percent reduction in total waste (adjusted for sales)

Environmental Health and Safety teams at Abbott sites in Ireland are leading innovative environmental projects that are having a positive effect on our businesses, communities and employees across the country. We have been recognised for the excellent work that is undertaken and recently received the Excellence in the Environment Award at the 2016 Chambers Ireland CSR Awards.  The projects below demonstrate just some of our achievements:

All six manufacturing sites in Ireland achieved Zero Waste to Landfill. Through improved waste reduction and recycling techniques, we’ve eliminated landfill waste at all six Abbott manufacturing sites in Ireland

• Our Cootehill facility recycles 100 percent of the water used at the facility and returns the water cleaner to the Dromore river.
• Our nutrition plants in Cootehill and Sligo, our diagnostics plants in Longford and Sligo and our vascular plant in Clonmel are all ISO 14001 certified.
• In 2012, Abbott’s six manufacturing sites in Ireland established the Abbott Ireland Energy Collaboration Programme in order to have a systematic and concerted approach to meet Abbott’s ambitious global environmental goals that include a 40% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020.
• The collaborative approach launched when Abbott engaged with the Energy Efficiency Obligation Scheme (EEOS) programme administered by SEAI. The mission of the collaboration model was to have a long-term partnership with the EEOS (Bord na Móna) and energy management provider (EM3), which would result in an energy efficiency generation model where knowledge, best practice and new opportunities are shared and used as case studies for other industries.
• One of the most successful outcomes of the collaboration model has been the generation of  further energy efficiency opportunities at all of the six Abbott Ireland manufacturing sites, resulting in 2694 tons of CO2 reductions, with further projects being identified for the future.
• Our facility in Donegal implemented an air-handling unit time matrix to control the on/off times and speeds of 11 air-handling units.
• The Vascular plant in Clonmel made numerous improvements, resulting in a 36 percent reduction in the daily running cost of the chilled water system and an estimated reduction of 2.7 million kilograms per year in carbon dioxide emissions.