Novo Nordisk: Focused, credible action through science-based targets for land

 “Novo Nordisk depends on nature to serve patients. SBTN has helped us see where nature matters most to our business — giving us the insight to focus action, build resilience and create long-term value.”

Dorethe Nielsen, Associate Vice President, Environmental Responsibility

Context and Motivation: Why SBTN?

Novo Nordisk is a global health care company that develops, manufactures, and markets pharmaceutical products to treat serious chronic diseases.

The company depends on natural resources from agricultural, forestry, and freshwater ecosystems throughout its value chain and sought a rigorous, data-led approach to understand its impacts on nature and identify where action could make the greatest difference.

“SBTN provided a structured methodology and independent validation. This gave us confidence that our priorities, targets and actions were grounded in evidence, while helping demonstrate that approach to internal and external stakeholders.”

What Novo Nordisk did

Over two years, Novo Nordisk completed a science-based materiality assessment and prioritization, then set science-based targets for land. Building on years of climate work, including Scope 3 accounting, the company combined internal subject-matter expertise with external consultants who brought deep technical knowledge of SBTN methods and helped navigate complex supply chain data.

Science-based materiality assessment and prioritization

First, Novo Nordisk completed and validated SBTN’s foundational Assess and Prioritize steps, which help companies identify their most material impacts on nature and where action should be focused. The company disclosed this progress on the SBTN Target Tracker in March 2026. 

This science-based assessment confirmed for Novo Nordisk that most of its nature impacts occur upstream, particularly through sourcing raw materials such as glucose, paper, and cardboard. Water use at production sites also emerged as a key direct dependency, and the SBTN approach helped the company compare these pressures through a common lens and move from assumptions to evidence‑based prioritization.

“The assessment reinforced the importance of agricultural and forestry products in our nature footprint and gave us a clearer view of where action is likely to have the greatest positive impact.”

Setting Land targets

Next, through its participation in SBTN’s pilot program for Version 2 Land guidance, Novo Nordisk publicly adopted two science-based targets for land¹ in September 2026: 

• No Conversion of Natural Ecosystems target: Novo Nordisk committed to maintaining its low exposure to ecosystem conversion in its own operations and to avoiding future conversion of critical habitat and high-conservation-value areas. In its supply chain, it aims to source 100% of relevant conversion-driving commodities from areas known to be deforestation- and conversion-free by 2030, while remediating conversion linked to its sourcing since a 2020 cut-off date.
• Landscape Engagement target: Novo Nordisk committed to engaging in priority landscapes through water restoration initiatives in Tianjin, China, and Montes Claros, Brazil, that contribute to substantial improvements in ecological and social conditions by 2030 and help advance urgent land-freshwater conservation objectives.

Find the full details and notes on Novo Nordisk’s Land targets on the SBTN Target Tracker. 

“Science-based targets helped us move from ambition to action by turning broad nature priorities into clear commitments — defining where to act, what to measure and how to track progress.”

Dorethe Nielsen, Associate Vice President, Environmental Responsibility

Validated targets support credibility and business decisions

Novo Nordisk described the value of validating their targets as “independent confirmation that our assessment was robust, our targets were grounded in science, and our priorities were evidence-based.”

By disclosing their targets, they found that the substantial work and investment behind the assessment could be recognized: “internally and externally, it gives people greater confidence that we are focusing effort where it can make the greatest difference.”

Novo Nordisk’s next priority is to ensure the company is on track to meet the targets it has set. The company shared that its SBTN work has already informed key strategic decisions – including to source all glucose from regenerative agriculture by 2033, achieve deforestation-free supply chains by 2030, and support restoration projects in priority water basins associated with production sites in China and Brazil.

“Nature can be difficult to translate into practical business decisions. A clear, evidence-based list of priorities made the topic more concrete and helped us focus effort where it’s most needed.”

Advice for other companies

Novo Nordisk found that, compared to their climate work, nature required them to look further into their supply chain – for example, by investigating what purchased goods were made from and where their raw materials came from. The level of detail required was not always available in existing datasets, but the company advises peers not to wait for perfect information.

“Supply chain data remains a challenge, but perfect cannot be the enemy of good. We purchase a long-tail of materials in relatively small volumes. By focusing first on the largest volumes, while screening our broader purchasing portfolio for high-impact commodities, we were able to make meaningful progress while remaining transparent about the gaps that still exist.”

To overcome limitations in company and external data, Novo Nordisk recommends staying grounded in local realities. By combining their assessment outputs with internal knowledge of operating sites and suppliers, they were able to ensure the final priorities were both science-based and grounded in the realities of their business.

“Apply healthy common sense. Use your knowledge of your business, supply chain and operating context to sense-check the results and make sure the priorities reflect real-world impacts.”

(1): Note on Land target coverage: Novo Nordisk set these targets under earlier pilot conditions and was not required to set the former Land Footprint Reduction target. In the current Land methods, this target has been expanded into the broader Working Land Regeneration and Restoration target, giving companies more ways to address material land impacts – including through increasing natural land cover and improving soil and other land quality conditions. Companies using the current methods are required to address all Land targets that apply to their material impacts.

Learn more:

• Find Novo Nordisk’s targets, along with details about their materiality assessment and prioritization work on the SBTN Target Tracker.
• Learn more about SBTN Land targets 
• Find more case studies