In Denmark, industry's absolute water consumption was almost at the same level in 2022 as in 2012, according to an analysis from the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences (ATV). But that does not apply to the pharmaceutical industry. During the period, the industry was behind the largest increase (35.8 per cent) in water consumption compared to other industries in Denmark.
The pharmaceutical industry needs large amounts of water in production, and this is a major concern at Novo Nordisk, says Andreas Herfelt, Environmental Lead at Novo Nordisk.
"At Novo Nordisk, we have been working for a long time to reduce water consumption, partly because we want sustainable production with the smallest possible footprint on the environment, partly because water is a limited resource in some places, and we are naturally interested in maintaining security of supply. The less our water consumption affects the local water resources, the better the security of supply," says Andreas Herfelt.
Some of the company's process water – that is, water that has already been used in production – is currently recycled in cooling towers that remove excess heat from the production processes, where it eventually evaporates. But is it also possible to reuse the water in the production process itself?
