Novartis has set ambitious environmental sustainability targets to achieve carbon neutral own operations by 2025, plastic neutrality and water sustainability by 2030, and net-zero by 2040.

Jürgen’s role as environmental sustainability lead for global drug development covers the set-up and execution of low carbon clinical trials. On top, Jürgen is in charge of the company-wide target of “all new products meet sustainable design principles by 2030”, which spans from research up to commercial.

Jürgen has been very engaged and passionate about the topic of environmental sustainability for more than three decades. Prior to joining Novartis in 2011, he was the CFO of the NGO Solar Energy Foundation, supporting the roll-out of solar energy in rural East Africa. From 2015-20, he was the finance head of Novartis’ global clinical supply unit, during which he was awarded with the Novartis “Better World Award for Environmental Sustainability” for significant progress in the decarbonisation of clinical trials. Jürgen contributes beyond Novartis within the UK-based Sustainable Healthcare Coalition to the industries’ low carbon clinical trial workstream.

Dr. Michael Hell is a chemist (MSc) and cell biologist (PhD) by education with substantial experience in manufacturing and operations of biopharmaceuticals. Before being appointed to head of sustainability at Merck’s Healthcare operations, he was leading environment, health, and safety for Merck KGaA’s global biotech manufacturing and led a packaging, logistics, and visual inspection operation unit.

Michael brings a diverse background in manufacturing, spanning environment, health, and safety, strategy development, continuous improvement/LEAN, operations, and business consulting. He is an active member of ISPE and chaired conference tracks or contributed as speaker. Michael co-authored scientific papers or book chapters.