Sustainability at the Schwabe Group
We know how incredibly important sustainability is. And we are transparent about our ongoing activities in this area. As a family-run company, we uphold our many responsibilities: towards a healthy business, the environment and society.
Dr. Willmar Schwabe I, who founded the Schwabe company over 150 years ago, was not only a proactive businessman who represented quality and innovation in the pharmaceutical industry. He also kept his focus on the conditions in society around him, and he paid special attention to setting new standards in health care for the poor.
With these principles in mind, the Schwabe Group — then and now — works towards solidly and sustainably developing its business, continuously promoting its employees‘ volunteer work, and supporting the Umckaloabo Foundation so that children and young people in southern Africa can have a good education and future perspectives.
From Nature. For Health.
The Schwabe Group’s motto is also the idea that inspires us and reflects our vision. Plants are the heart and soul of our pharmaceutical products, and they are the first link in our value chain. The quality of the plants we use is crucial when it comes to the quality of the finished product. We want to promote good health sustainably with our medicines and health products. This is of particular importance to us as a family-operated company.
In everything we have already achieved, changed and initiated, we are fully aware that as a company we have to continue to develop at all times. After all, the challenges, opportunities and framework conditions related to our work are constantly changing as well.
The three-pillar model of sustainability
The topic of sustainability fundamentally consists of three pillars: the environment, the economy and social issues. All three pillars are equally important and are an essential part of the company’s sustainability strategy. If we as a company want to continue to grow in the field of sustainability, we also have to focus our attention on the environment, business and social matters in equal measure and implement steps to make progress.
When it comes to environmental factors, acting sustainably entails using resources only to the extent that we need to. The Schwabe Group is working on an ongoing basis to reduce its CO2 emissions, a situation we document in our
Economy and ecology
An economically sustainable company thinks and acts with the long term in mind so that its activities have dependable roots for years to come.
As a financially independent family-operated business, we have always managed our affairs pragmatically and with an eye towards the future, and we are solidly positioned.
Ökonomie - zweite Säule der Nachhaltigkeit
At the Schwabe Group, we feel a responsibility towards
Social sustainability
Schwabe stands for commitment
Our company founder, Dr. Willmar Schwabe, always prioritized solid resource management, offering the utmost quality in manufacturing, and a commitment to social causes. At the Schwabe Group, entrepreneurial action has always meant making decisions that are thoughtful and future-forward. The ideas that motivated our company’s founder continue to motivate us today: we as a Group want to minimize our carbon footpint and work on behalf of greater social commitment. Our financial independence allows us the entrepreneurial flexibility to take appropriate actions.
We can only offer premium-quality herbal medicines and health products on a long-term basis if we make sure that in the decades ahead we can continue to sustainably harvest the plants we need. For us, it is essential to use cultivation methods with a minimal impact on the air, soil and human life as well as a conservation-oriented approach gathering of wild plants; this safeguards natural resources and protect the environment. Short-term plans involving environmentally harmful actions are counterproductive to our long-term interests.
Willmar Schwabe I - A pioneer of corporate social responsibility
Our company founder, Dr. Willmar Schwabe, always prioritized solid resource management, offering the utmost quality in manufacturing, and a commitment to social causes. From 1884 onward, he helped support the AOK, the newly founded regional health insurance company in Leipzig.
Starting in the mid-1880’s, Willmar Schwabe began establishing “homesteads,” convalescent homes designed for those in need and located in a healthy environment. This endeavor complemented the holistic approach to health he endorsed and his sense of social responsibility. He ultimately established a foundation bearing his name to provide long-term financial support for three of these homes he had set up.
Willmar Schwabe’s well-developed sense of social involvement was multi-facetted. His charity work included everything from financing treatment for indigent people to supporting poor pharmacy students all the way to making donations to hospitals.
24% less CO2
In 2024, the Schwabe Group succeeded in reducing its global
24% less CO2
The Schwabe Group’s areas of focus
The Schwabe Group has defined focus topics we initially want to concentrate on so we can make short-term changes with a long-term impact as quickly as possible in the field of sustainability. In addition to reducing our CO2 emissions, other issues we prioritize include sustainable supply-chain management and corporate social responsibility.
Calculating our carbon footprints in the focus area “Emissions and energy” marks a first milestone. We tracked our energy use and the related greenhouse gas emissions for Scope 1 and 2 at the Schwabe Group, and we then identified areas where action is needed and generated the appropriate measures.
Carbon footprint
Responsible supply-chain management is the second area of focus in the Schwabe Group’s global sustainability strategy. It includes every process along the entire value chain ranging from sourcing raw materials all the way to the customer.
Supply chain
Our social commitment is also part of our sustainability strategy. Our good starting position in the area of social commitment, e.g. through the Umckaloabo Foundation, allows us to pursue ambitious goals with our social activities and investments in education and volunteer work.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Within the Schwabe Group, we remain connected through our Sustainability Delegates Network. Here we often discuss a focus area such as our carbon footprint, first discussing the matter in terms of German sites. This approach lets us implement measures locally first and then roll them out globally later.
Our international subsidiaries are just as committed to establishing their own initiatives to reduce Schwabe's carbon footprint or give the Group new impulses for its social commitment. We can exchange information with each other and learn from one another in the Sustainability Delegates Network.
Networking within the Group
Sustainable through innovation
Innovation also has a solid place in the Schwabe Group as a research company. Our ginkgo special extract has long held the status of being one of the most thoroughly researched herbal medicine around the world. This is an approach we feel committed to - for all of our extracts and herbal medicines, of course.
As a financially well-positioned company, the Schwabe Group has a great deal of innovative strength. And having expertise brings a certain obligation along with it: research and development are very important to the Schwabe Group as drivers of innovation.
To this end, we work hand in hand with both academic institutions and start-up companies. As part of the
Moving forward together
To network with other pharmaceutical manufacturers, we are engaged in the sustainability workgroup of of “Pharma Deutschland”, an association for the German pharmaceutical industry. We exchange ideas with other manufacturers in these groups and give each other inspiration so that together we can develop and promote ideas about reducing carbon emissions in our industry.
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