Our global warming impact from energy is calculated using conversion factors from the World Business Council For Sustainable Development (WBCSD)/World Resources Initiative (WRI) Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative, September 2001, its Stationary and Mobile Combustion Workbooks, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (1996).
We use conversion factors from the UK Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs to calculate CO2 from business air travel and air freight.
Energy Use from our Facilities includes all energy consumed at GSK facilities in the form of electricity imported and steam imported and fuels burned in fixed combustion equipment on site, including emergency generators. Figures include fuels used to generate steam and electricity on-site but not fuel for on-site transport. The energy consumption section of this report includes a breakdown of energy data.
Transport includes business travel by air (including transatlantic flights between the US and UK, flights within the EU and US for routine business activities, and flights originating in the UK to large group events such as sales conventions), business travel by road (including company-owned vehicle fleets, primarily our global sales fleet), and product freight by air. The increase in global warming potential from transport since 2001 is mainly because we have improved our reporting systems to more comprehensively collect transport data. For example, the 2001 data did not include business air travel within the EU and US and did not include UK and international sales fleet miles.
The data do not include employee travel to work. We do not collect data for other modes of business travel including rail and bus. We do not calculate CO2 emissions from road, rail or sea freight transport because our central data collection system is not as robust in these areas and the impacts are small when compared to those of air freight transport. The transport section of this report includes a breakdown of transport data.
Compounds that contribute to global warming are used in the production of metered dose inhalers and in some ancillary equipment. They include CFCs and HCFCs (which also deplete the ozone layer) and HFCs (which do not deplete the ozone layer). The ozone depletion section of this report contains a breakdown of ozone depleting gases. The data does not include CFCs released from patient use of metered dose inhalers.
Other is CO2 equivalents from waste treatment and fermentation.