Dive Brief:
- CordenPharma Colorado signed an agreement with Pivot Energy to offset about 51% of the electricity consumed at its Boulder, Colorado campus with renewable energy.
- The off-site net metering agreement will provide 6.7 megawatts of energy through two separate solar arrays that Pivot Energy is developing. Both projects, located in Colorado’s Weld and Garfield Counties, are expected to be built and interconnected to Xcel Energy’s utility grid in Colorado by 2026, Pivot Energy said.
- The solar installations will produce clean energy that will be fed into the grid. While that energy will not directly power CordenPharma’s facilities, the installations will generate credits that the pharmaceutical firm can use to further its ESG and carbon reduction goals.
Dive Insight:
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission plans to vote next week on its proposed climate disclosure rule, which would require companies to disclose climate-related risks like scope 1, scope 2 and scope 3 emissions and their risk management practices. The SEC pushed the timeline for rule finalization to April, amid reports that the agency had dropped a requirement for U.S.-listed companies to report their scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions as part of their climate-related disclosures.
Regardless of whether scope 3 GHG emissions are included in the rule, operations and facility-centric energy usage — such as building electricity or fleet emissions — are considered scope 1 and 2 emissions and are expected to require disclosure once the proposed rule is finalized. This requirement, along with the 2015 Paris Agreement, has spurred many companies to implement ESG-focused measures, such as the Science Based Targets Initiatives.
CordenPharma joined the Science Based Target Initiatives in December 2022, evaluating and establishing company-wide emissions reduction targets, according to a Feb. 14 news release. The pharmaceutical firm said its partnership with Pivot Energy is the “latest in its efforts to reach carbon-neutrality.”
CordenPharma CEO and President Michael Quirmbach said in the release that ESG is a top priority for the company and its private equity shareholders. "We work with companies such as Pivot Energy to achieve the highest level of sustainability ratings for our facilities as it is our responsibility as a leading CDMO to contribute to a low-carbon economy," Quirmbach said.
As industries seek to reduce environmental impact, off-site net metering agreements like this serve as a model and are “paving the way” for others to integrate renewable energy solutions into business operations, Matt Brenn, director of business development at Pivot Energy, said in the release.
