Our successful ‘Go Green’
initiatives in Jordan

Our Successful ‘Go Green’ Initiatives in Jordan

Over the last three years our teams in Jordan have taken meaningful strides in making our Company more efficient – driving environmental responsibility while at the same time reducing operational costs. The ‘Go Green’ initiatives undertaken in Jordan highlight the feasibility of pursuing cleaner operations while at the same time improving our bottom line. These initiatives are also consistent with our company promise, “Better health, within reach, every day,” as cleaner air and less pollution are direct enablers of improved human health. Recognising climate change as a pivotal challenge for the world today, it is important that we continue to capitalise on opportunities to operate more responsibly and to consider the environmental costs of our business. 

Substituting conventional electricity for photovoltaic (PV) solar panels

In 2019, we completed the installation of PV/net metering solar panels to generate power for our Jordan IT building. Harnessing solar energy instead of conventional electricity sources has enabled us to reduce our emissions by about 296,000 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2) per year – enough to power 52 homes for one year. The cost of the panels, which powers 80%-90% of the IT building’s total consumption (around 4% of all energy consumed by Hikma Jordan), are expected to be recovered in less than three years; saving around 14,000 JOD (approx. $20,000 USD) per month in electricity costs – a saving of over two million JOD ($2.8 million USD) over the 20-year lifespan of the panels.

As part of our commitment to encourage our people to also be more environmentally conscious, we have also installed charging stations for electric vehicles. The two charging stations are located in the IT parking lot and are freely accessible to all employees.

Switching our fleet to hybrid

Over the last two years, we have gradually switched our company cars from conventional petrol cars to hybrid (cars that are powered by a combination of battery and conventional fuel and that are significantly more energy efficient). Between 2018 and 2019, all seven of our company cars in Jordan were switched to hybrids – resulting in monetary savings of around 3,000 JOD (more than $4,000 USD) per month.

Achieving cleaner manufacturing  - switching from diesel to LPG

In 2018, our partnership with Central Gas took effect, enabling our Jordan-based facilities to convert from using diesel fuel to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). This has resulted in significant improvements to our environmental performance by reducing the carbon emissions of our production processes. The switch also reduced overhead costs since, unlike diesel fuel, natural gas boilers have a longer service life and require less maintenance.

Through the agreement, our Jordanian facilities are provided with a capacity of up to 30,000 litres of LPG per year, an amount that will reduce production costs by 7–15% based on estimated gas prices. In addition to reducing our carbon emissions, using natural gas will improve safety.

Pursuing such projects will enable us to operate more cleanly and profitably; and it is important that we continue to explore and capitalise on such opportunities across our operations.