Increasingly, sustainability is perceived by international business leaders as having more to do with opportunities than with avoiding costs, managing risks and compliance. Innovation and long-term profitability are the opportunities associated with the Triple Bottom Line approach Novo Nordisk has been pursuing for more than a decade.

Sustainability is a moving target and as we move up the learning curve, new issues emerge on the agenda. This learning process builds on interaction with key stakeholders and a set of fundamental business principles we have chosen to call the Novo Nordisk Way of Management. It provides the governance framework for putting our values into action.
In 2002, the focus has been on embedding and implementing the Triple Bottom Line approach in the organisation, moving towards higher integration of particularly social responsibility and human rights issues in the core business processes. The ultimate goal is that all decision processes in the company strive to balance an economic, social and environmental perspective.

On the journey towards sustainability, strategic objectives are translated into operational targets. These objectives are worked into the corporate planning process as well as into the business plans of individual business units. We define medium-range and short-term targets that are integrated in the annual Balanced Scorecards. In 2001 we developed a set of Triple Bottom Line indicators to help measure progress, and this year new indicators on access to health have been included.

A long-term profitable business can only be sustainable if the demands from stakeholders are taken into account. Novo Nordisk engages in dialogue and partnerships with a wide
range of key stakeholders, and we see many benefits to this approach.

Good corporate governance applies to sustainability issues as well. Novo Nordisk’s commitment to sustainable development is strongly anchored in the company’s strategic foundation and management structures. The Novo Nordisk Way of Management explicitly refers to the commitment to integrate the ICC Business Charter for Sustainable Development, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 2001, Novo Nordisk also became a signatory
to the UN Global Compact.

While the pursuit of opportunities is fundamental, so is consideration of the risk perspective. Hence, risk management is the other side of the coin in our Triple Bottom Line approach. A wide array of risk factors associated with social, environmental
or economic impacts are systematically addressed at board and executive level. Risks that are considered material to our future business performance are included in our quarterly and annual reporting to the public.

The World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg brought attention to a number of critical factors for successfully addressing the global challenges for business in the community: corporate accountability, robust public/private partnerships, stakeholder engagement to build trust and transparency, a paradigm shift in governance structures, and sustainability initiatives as investments for long-term profitability.

Through our consistent Triple Bottom Line approach, we believe that our company is well-positioned to use these factors as building blocks on which we will shape our future. The case study from Novo Nordisk’s commitment in China serves as an example.