Preserving the planet’s biodiversity is a key aim of sustainable development and involves all sectors of society. Our commercial operations have the potential to impact on biodiversity in many ways. For Alliance Boots, the two main areas of impact arise from the sourcing of raw materials and from the facilities we operate.
Our environmental management processes seek to minimise the negative impacts of these activities. We take account of protected species and habitats, as required by national and international legislation, and encourage opportunities to promote biodiversity.
The impact of chemicals on human health and the environment has long been a matter of concern for manufacturers and retailers in relation to product formulation, development and manufacture. To regulate our chemicals usage across our retail products we have set realistic but challenging targets to monitor and manage our usage and related impact.
There is a finite amount of freshwater on the planet, (only 3% of total water in the world is freshwater and less than 1% is usable by humans). Rapid growth in human population and accelerating levels of consumption coupled with a greater risk to availability due to climate change mean that the world’s water supplies are under increasing stress.
Water scarcity implications for Alliance Boots will mainly concern the products we develop, manufacture and sell and we have a programme to address water management in our manufacturing operations.