ESG: A Roadmap to Sustainability

In today’s fast-moving business environment, sustainability is no longer an optional add-on for organisations; it is increasingly central to long-term viability, reputation and risk management. 

This is especially true for the pharmacy sector in the UK, where the overlap of healthcare delivery, supply-chain complexity, regulatory scrutiny, and community impact makes Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations highly relevant. 

In this first post of our series, we’ll unpack what ESG means, and explain why at EMT Healthcare we place a strong emphasis on this agenda for our business, for pharmacies, our suppliers, and our team.

ESG Overview: What it is and why it matters

What is ESG?

The term ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance. It is used as a framework for assessing how organisations manage their impact on the world, not only in terms of financial performance, but also in how they act as responsible corporate citizens.

• Environmental: How a business uses natural resources, emits greenhouse gases, manages waste, handles packaging, or minimises its impact on ecosystems. For example, supply-chain emissions, packaging waste, energy use, and transportation are all environmental issues.
• Social: How a business interacts with people, employees, customers, communities, and suppliers. This includes workforce well-being, diversity and inclusion, fair pay, community health impact, and supply-chain labour conditions. 
• Governance: The systems, controls, transparency, and culture by which a business is managed: board composition, ethics, risk management, audit, compliance, and leadership accountability.

Collectively, these pillars help businesses balance sustainable, ethical behaviour with long-term growth and value creation. For UK businesses large and small, integrating ESG into strategy is increasingly part of “good business practice”. 

Why ESG exists

ESG frameworks recognise that business success today relies on more than just financial metrics:

• Environmental risks (climate change, resource scarcity) can disrupt operations, supply chains, and regulatory status;
• Social risks (labour issues, diversity, community trust) can damage reputation, employee retention, and social licence to operate;
• Governance failures (poor oversight, unethical practices) can lead to regulatory penalties, brand damage,and  loss of investor confidence.

Investors and stakeholders increasingly incorporate ESG into decision-making, and many investors now look beyond the balance sheet to assess risk, resilience, and long-term value.

The UK policy context

In the UK, the government has set a legally binding target for Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The strategy to get there involves decarbonising all sectors of the economy, including transport, buildings, industry, supply-chains and services.

From a business-perspective:

• Regulations are tightening: large UK businesses are increasingly required to report their energy and carbon emissions, and to incorporate ESG factors into governance. 
• For smaller businesses, even those not yet legally required, ESG is becoming a matter of best-practice and competitive advantage.

EMT Healthcare's approach to ESG within the healthcare sector

At EMT Healthcare we are in the early days of developing our strategy, working closely with ESG Experts to keep us informed and help create a structured and measurable path to improvement. The insights we have gained so far are applicable to our pharmacy customers, and if you haven't started thinking about ESG this is why it matters:

Why this matters to your pharmacy business

• Regulatory environment: Many community pharmacies may not yet be subject to the same reporting burdens as large corporations, upstream obligations (via suppliers, wholesalers, healthcare contracts) and customer/contract-partner expectations mean that ESG is already on the horizon.
• Supply-chain integrity: Pharmacy businesses are part of a broader healthcare supply chain. From the manufacturers of medicines, packaging, transport, wholesale, cold-chain logistics, and retail dispensary. ESG matters in all these links. A pharmacy business that can demonstrate responsible sourcing, packaging, and waste management will be better placed. 
  
• Customer and community expectations: Patients and communities increasingly value businesses that take sustainability seriously, whether that’s reduced plastic waste, local community engagement, training/development of staff, or accessible services. Independents and groups alike can leverage ESG as a differentiator.
• Future-proofing: As ESG reporting, regulation and investor/payer expectations grow, pharmacy businesses that embed ESG early (and integrate it via their systems, processes and supply-chains) can create a competitive advantage.

Tailoring for groups vs independents

For independent pharmacies, the social pillar (community health, staff care, diversity, local engagement) may be a very accessible starting point. While the environmental and governance prerequisites may feel more resource-intensive, small but meaningful steps (energy review, waste-reduction, supplier review) can build credibility.

For pharmacy groups (with multiple sites, larger supply-chain complexity, and higher visibility), a more structured ESG programme is appropriate: baseline emissions across sites, centralised policy, supplier engagement, packaging strategy, brand-wide social/community programmes, governance oversight. The benefit is being able to scale initiatives and gain greater efficiency from central coordination.

Why EMT Healthcare invests in this agenda

At EMT Healthcare, we believe that ESG and the path to Net Zero are not simply moral or compliance “tick-boxes”, they are fundamental to long-term value for our customers and our business. 

We recognise that pharmacies operate in a highly regulated mission-critical sector, incorporating wellness, community health, and most importantly, access to medicines. Business continuity is essential for the sector, and therefore focusing on sustainability, supply chain and operational resilience will only strengthen pharmacy operations.

Embedding ESG thinking (particularly in  supply-chain, procurement, logistical operations, packaging and waste streams) can help build a competitive advantage and prepare for future opportunities and pressures. For example, we know that reporting, governance and transparency will only increase in importance. Whether from the NHS or health-service contracts, lease/retail obligations, landlord requirements, brand reputation or investor/finance considerations.

Ultimately, sustainability is aligned with good pharmacy practice: efficient and more resilient operations, safer supply chains, strong stakeholder relationships, and a leading brand reputation.

Stay tuned for the next post in our series, where we will dive deeper into our journey into ESG and the impact it is making and unpack some of the complexities of operating a business committed to ESG.