Roche reaches its 100% sustainable electricity goal worldwide
We Mean Business Coalition
Roche, the world’s largest biotech company, has achieved its goal of 100% sustainable electricity worldwide.
The achievement is the result of a 15-year effort to shape how it sources electricity for its operations and is a step toward the company’s goal to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across its value chain by 2045.
It’s also an example of business seeing the clear competitive advantage of clean electrification, which is more efficient, easier to maintain and cheaper to operate than fossil fuel alternatives.
“This achievement shows what is possible when long-term ambition is matched with systematic and persistent execution,” said Silke Hörnstein, Head of Corporate Strategy and Sustainability at Roche. “It’s an important milestone, built site by site, that reduces our environmental impact while supporting our work for patients worldwide.”
How it works
Credit: Roche
Electricity powers everything Roche does, from research laboratories and manufacturing facilities to offices and data centers.
For Roche, sustainable electricity is generated from sources that are replenished at least as fast as they are consumed and avoid significant environmental or social harm. These include solar, wind and geothermal energy, as well as hydropower. In practice, this means electricity generated from renewable sources and procured through credible market mechanisms or produced on-site, in line with internationally recognized standards for renewable energy accounting.
While most of Roche’s sustainable electricity is sourced from the grid, on-site renewables such as solar panels are a growing share of its use — and a direct way for sites to continue expanding renewable capacity.
This looks different in different areas.
In Singapore, where sustainable electricity availability on the local grid is limited and premiums for green power are higher, Roche installed a solar photovoltaic system on rooftops and across unused areas around its site, meeting around 12% of the site’s yearly electricity demand, while saving money over the long term.
In Switzerland, Roche sources renewable electricity from hydropower facilities on the River Rhine, near its large, integrated urban campus in Basel/Kaiseraugst.
In Hillsboro, Oregon, Roche combines sustainable electricity from the grid with on-site solar generation and battery storage, helping to support operational resilience.
Such examples of sustainable electricity procurement are enabling the electrification of thermal energy usage at Roche sites. In Basel/Kaiseraugst, for example, the site is introducing a next-generation heat pump system as part of its ambition to reach a carbon-neutral energy supply by 2030.
Electrification makes business sense
By transitioning to 100% sustainable electricity, Roche not only takes steps toward meeting its decarbonization goals — it also strengthens the resilience of its operations and supports the development of renewable energy infrastructure.
With these consistent and long-term investments, Roche shows how electrification makes business sense.