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Biogen to Invest $250 Million in a 20-year Initiative to Eliminate its Use of Fossil Fuels and Improve Public Health
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Biogen Inc. (Nasdaq: BIIB) today announced Healthy Climate, Healthy Lives™, a groundbreaking $250 million, 20-year initiative to eliminate fossil fuels across its operations and collaborate with renowned institutions with the aim to improve health, especially for the world’s most vulnerable populations. Building on its long-standing commitment to corporate responsibility, Biogen’s goal is to eliminate its fossil fuel emissions by 2040, as well as be a catalyst for positive change by advancing the science around how fossil fuels impact human health and taking action to promote climate and health equity. Fossil fuel emissions drive the climate crisis and emit harmful air pollutants that are a leading cause of death around the globe,1 claiming nearly 9 million lives annually2 with the greatest toll on the most vulnerable. Evidence shows that fossil fuel emissions play a direct role in the worsening of various health conditions, and emerging data suggests possible links to COVID-19 as well as brain health. It is Biogen’s objective to advance the science in this area. With this announcement, Biogen becomes the first Fortune 500 company committing to become fossil fuel free across its operations by 2040. “Our Healthy Climate, Healthy Lives initiative further builds on Biogen’s long-standing strategy to deal with climate change by addressing the interrelated challenges of climate and health, including in the realm of brain health,” said Michel Vounatsos, CEO, Biogen. “Biogen was the first company in the life sciences industry to become carbon neutral. We believe that it is time to take even greater action by implementing a well-defined program that examines how we live, how we do business and how we consume energy. By doing so, Biogen will play its part to address and impact dramatic health disparities among people around the world, as well as build a stronger, more sustainable future for all.” “The breadth of Biogen’s initiative is striking. I am not aware of any other company that has pledged to go fossil fuel free across their entire global operations,” said Bill Sisson, Executive Director, World Business Council for Sustainable Development North America. “While others are taking significant steps to get to net zero carbon emissions, Biogen is taking the next step by eliminating fossil fuel use in all aspects of its business. I applaud their ambition.” In 2014 Biogen took a leadership position on climate change by becoming carbon neutral. Since then -- as climate science has evolved and given mounting evidence that the burdens of climate change are not shared equally -- Biogen determined it was imperative to establish aggressive new targets in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change guidance and approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative. Healthy Climate, Healthy Lives has two principal components:
“Biogen’s collaboration will inject an exciting new facet into the Joint Program: inclusion of human health and well-being as key new considerations in decision-making regarding the best pathways forward to address the global climate challenge,” said Joint Program Co-Director Ronald Prinn, TEPCO Professor of Atmospheric Science in the MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. “The sponsorship also will enable us to welcome a distinguished new Biogen Fellow who will pursue this objective through work with the MIT Technology and Policy Program Research to Policy Engagement Initiative.” The Healthy Climate, Healthy Lives initiative will be divided across two principal areas during a 20-year period: the company’s operations, including employee benefits and related programs; and support of new collaborations. The initiative’s funding will start in 2021. For more information about Biogen’s Healthy Climate, Healthy Lives commitment and the components of the framework, please visit biogen.com/hchl. ______________________________ About Biogen We routinely post information that may be important to investors on our website at www.biogen.com. Follow us on social media – Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube. Biogen Safe Harbor These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in such statements, including, without limitation: risks that the goals of our Healthy Climate, Healthy Lives initiative will be completed in a timely manner or at all; uncertainty as to whether the anticipated benefits of the our Healthy Climate, Healthy Lives can be achieved; risks of unexpected hurdles, costs or delays; and the direct and indirect impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on our business, results of operations and financial condition. The foregoing sets forth many, but not all, of the factors that could cause actual results to differ from our expectations in any forward-looking statement. Investors should consider this cautionary statement, as well as the risks factors identified in our most recent annual or quarterly report and in other reports we have filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. These statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations and speak only as of the date of this news release. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.
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