Novo Nordisk’s Sustainability Report 2003 is part of our annual reporting and accounts for our performance against targets, strategies, activities and new targets regarding social, environmental, ethical and socio-economic issues that affect our company’s future business performance.

The CATCH concept - The AA1000AS assurance standard - Independent assurance providers -
Scope of report - Data

Novo Nordisk has collected data for our reporting on sustainability issues for a number of years. The level of detail has increased and the scope of data has been expanded over time, to meet various stakeholders’ increasing demands for insight and regulatory requirements such as those specified by the Danish legislation on green accounts and the recent US legislation pertaining to corporate governance. In 2001, to provide more in-depth reporting on our performance, Novo Nordisk introduced the CATCH concept.

Good data quality essentially means having the right data in the right place at the right time. Therefore, all Novo Nordisk data regarding our performance on sustainability are managed through a common data management concept, CATCH - Collection, Analysis and Transmission of Consolidated Holistic information. CATCH consists of several elements: definitions, procedures and tools which ensure the validity of the reported data and support the internal focus on improving Novo Nordisk’s performance. The CATCH concept ensures that our TBL performance reporting is consistent, reliable and validated.

In 2001, we also introduced an environmental information system as part of the CATCH concept. Through a web-tool, environmental data are submitted directly from all our production sites and transferred to a central data warehouse for further aggregation, analysis, follow-up and, finally, reporting and assurance. All environmental data in Novo Nordisk’s Sustainability Report, except ‘ozone-depleting substances’, are managed through this system.

Performance data in the report cover the years from 2000 and onwards. In 2000, Novo Nordisk was demerged and the enzymes business was listed as a separate company; Novozymes A/S. Therefore the year 2001, being the first as a focused healthcare company, has been set as the new baseline, against which we will track performance. For those sites that have been entirely dedicated to the healthcare business prior to the demerge, data are available for a longer period back – see the Interactive charts.  We have also, as something new in 2003, made a ‘Data overview’ where all data in the report can be accessed.

It is crucial for us to be able to document and prove that we can document our performance. Therefore, an independent assurance provider tests the data and information we publish in the Sustainability Report. In 2003, we have decided to have our Sustainability Report assured against the AA1000 Assurance Standard. See more details on the standard and the AA1000 Framework on at AccountAbility's website.

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The full version of the AA1000 Assurance Standard (AA1000 AS) was released by AccountAbility in March 2003. AA1000 AS is an essential component in creating a generally applicable approach to assessing and strengthening the credibility of organisations' public reporting.

Novo Nordisk assurance process has been designed to ensure that the qualitative as well as quantitative data that makes up sustainability performance plus the systems that underpin the data and performance are assured.

We have dealt with the principles as described below.

1. Completeness

As a pharmaceutical company with global reach, Novo Nordisk is engaged in a range of activities to support sustainable development. All of these are founded in the company’s corporate governance framework. The Sustainability Report aims to capture the organisation’s ‘footprint’ in terms of social, environmental and economic impacts on society. Hence, we account for our performance in relation to targets, major achievements and key issues. It does not provide a full coverage of all our activities. See scope of report below.

2. Materiality

Key issues are identified through ongoing stakeholder engagement and addressed by programmes or action plans with clear and measurable targets. Stretch targets are set to guide the long-term efforts in strategic areas, such as global access to health. The issues presented in the Sustainability Report are deemed to have a significant impact on the company’s future business performance and may support stakeholders in their decision-making and is therefore regarded as Novo Nordisk’s material issues.

3. Responsiveness

The report is reaching out to a wide range of stakeholders, each with their specific needs and interests. To most of our stakeholders, however, the Sustainability Report is but a single element of our interaction and communication. It reflects how we have addressed stakeholder concerns and interests in dealing with the dilemmas and issues. Stakeholder dialogue is an invaluable part of our efforts, and we encourage readers to give us feedback. Send an e- mail to beingthere@novonordisk.com.

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An independent assurance provider has assured the credibility of our Sustainability Report. We use only one assurance provider to perform the assurance to ensure a more holistic approach to the coverage of the assurance. The Independent assurance statement can be seen at page 58 in the printed report and the recommendations as well as the assurance provider’s statement of independence can be seen in this section of the internet report.

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The scope of the report is Novo Nordisk A/S, ie Novo Nordisk A/S, Novo Nordisk IT A/S, Novo Nordisk Engineering A/S and Novo Nordisk Servicepartner A/S. Environmental data cover the significant part of the organisation, ie all production sites, except for the small site in Tianjin, the environmental impact of which we deem insignificant. Social data cover all employees. Economic data are quoted from the Annual Financial Report and cover the Novo Nordisk Group. Engagements in joint ventures and contract licensees are not included in the report scope, but key suppliers have been evaluated on their social and environmental performance. Since the last report was published in February 2003, Novo Nordisk ownership of the production facility in Brazil, Biobrás has been approved by the Brazilian authorities. Data for Biobrás has therefore in 2003 been included. In 2003, there have been no significant restatements, and there have been no significant changes in the measurement methods applied to key economic, environmental and social data.

Site-specific reports have been made for 8 of the 9 major sites. We expect to do a site report for our last major site, Biobrás, in 2004. Data from all sites are available in the Interactive charts.

Our 9 major production sites are:

1. Bagsværd (Denmark)
2. Biobrás (Brazil)
3. Chartres (France)
4. Clayton (USA)
5. FeF Køge (Denmark)
6. Gentofte (Denmark)
7. Hillerød (Denmark)
8. Kalundborg (Denmark) 
9. Måløv (Denmark).

Our 5 other production sites are:

1. Hjørring (Denmark)
2. Johannesburg (South Africa)
3. Koriyama (Japan)
4. Tianjin (China)
5. Værløse (Denmark).

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To ensure the consistency of our data, all data have been defined and described in company guidelines.

Internal control procedures have been established to ensure that data are reported according to the definitions.

Depending on the type of data and the site, different methods for compiling data are used. Financial (pages 4-5, 14-15, 17, 30-31, 49, 59 and 60 in the printed report):

• All financial and economic data in the Sustainability Report are based on registrations in our financial accounts
• Other socio-economic data eg economic footprint and investments in health.

Resources (pages 4, 48-49 and 59 in the printed report):

• Water consumption includes consumption of drinking water, industrial water and steam. Data are based on invoices.
• Energy consumption (direct and indirect supply) includes both indirect supply of energy (fuel) eg natural gas, fuel oil and other types and direct supply of external energy (energy) eg electricity, steam and district heat. The consumption of fuel is based on meter readings and the consumption of energy on invoices.
• Raw and packaging materials comprise materials for production and related processes and packaging of products. Consumption of raw materials and packaging is converted to tons. Data are based on registrations in our stock-system.

• Wastewater includes industrial wastewater and sanitary wastewater. The volume is based on measurements and components eg COD, nitrogen and phosphorous are based on test results or standard factors.

By-products (biomass) (pages 49 and 59 in the printed report):

• By-products include NovoGro, NovoGro30 and Yeast slurry. The volume is based on measurements and components eg nitrogen and phosphorous are based on test results or standard factors.

Waste (pages 49 and 59 in the printed report):

• Waste (total) is the sum of non-hazardous and hazardous waste. The disposal of waste is registered for all types. The disposal percentages are calculated as the sum of waste disposed in a specific manner of the total waste (total). Waste for recycling can be both non-hazardous and hazardous. The remaining part of the hazardous waste is waste for controlled destruction. Data are based on invoices.

Emissions to air (pages 46, 49 and 59 in the printed report):

• Organic solvents cover the sum of emissions of different types of organic solvents eg acetone, ethanol etc. not including emissions of ozone-depleting materials. Data are based on measurement and ensuing calculations.
• Ozone-depleting materials include emissions of CFCs, HCFCs and Halon. Data are based on maintenance log books.
• Emissions of CO2, SO2 and NOx from energy (total) are based on standard factors for fuel and for energy on available emission factors from the external suppliers of energy.

Environmental impact potentials (pages 49 and 59 in the printed report):

• The environmental impact potentials for global warming, ozone layer depletion, acidification and eutrophication are calculated on the basis of a method developed by the Institute for Product Development, DTU published by the Danish EPA in Udvikling af Miljøvenlige Industri Produkter (UMIP).

Social

Basic employee statistics (pages 4 and 59 in the printed report):

• All basic employee statistics are based on registrations in our Human Resource system. The number of employees is calculated as the actual number of employees as of year-end. For employees outside Denmark, data for rate of absence is based on local registrations. Types of absence included are absence due to the employee's own illness, included pregnancy-related sick leave and occupational injuries and illnesses per total available working hours in the year adjusted for country specific holidays.

Health & Safety (pages 4, 17, 37 and 59 in the printed report):

The two frequencies are based on the number of occupational injuries and illness reported for all employees per million working hours.

Training costs (page 33 and 59 in the printed report):

• Training costs are all costs on a specific account in our financial accounts. Training can be much more than the direct costs eg ‘on the job training’. We are currently working on broadening this definition

Other data published in the report or in the internet version of the report:

• Compliance data (pages 17 and 48 in the printed report) consist of breaches of regulatory limits, regulatory limits with repeated breaches, accidental releases, accidental releases of GMMs and complaints. All data are based on information from departments and test results. All breaches are reported to the authorities.
• Patent families (page 33 in the printed report) are the ‘number of active patent families to date’ and the ‘new patent families (first filing)’.
• In the article ‘Opportunities in diversity’ (page 38 to 39 in the printed report) we publish information on representation of immigrants/descendants of immigrants and the gender division of management in Novo Nordisk in Denmark.
• Information on evaluation of our suppliers can be found in ‘Responsibility in the supply chain’ (page 42-43 in the printed report).
• Data on environmental costs and investments can b found in the article ‘Accounting for the environment’ (page 50-51 in the printed report) supplemented with two case stories.
• Animals purchased for testing (page 55 in the printed report) are the number of animals purchased for all testing undertaken for Novo Nordisk either by ourselves or at CROs. Data on types of animals purchased can be found here.
• Transport data (only available in this internet version of the report) are based on information from Novo Nordisk’s transport providers and comprises transport by lorry. Calculations are based on the ETU/ITD Transport Handbook.
• EPI for water and energy (pages 4, 17 and 48 in the printed report) are calculated as the number of released units as a ratio of the consumption of water and energy, respectively.

All data are documented and evidence has been put forward to the assurance providers.