Can you give us a brief history of Novozymes and the vision you have pursued since becoming CEO in 2020?
Novozymes was among the first companies to make ourselves accountable to the triple bottom line and align our business to the SDGs.
Today, over 90% of Novozymes’ sales come from biosolutions that either reduce the use of fossil-based resources, enable agriculture and food sectors to produce more with less or enable better health around the world.
In Novozymes, we come to work every day in our quest to fulfill our purpose of finding biological answers for better lives in a growing world. We channel 13% of our revenue into innovation to address pressing societal needs. The proposed combination with Chr. Hansen, a leader in microbes, is a significant step toward defining future solutions anchored in biology and science.
What has been your strategic focus since joining the company?
We live in a dynamic and rapidly changing world with growing populations, intensifying global conflict, rising raw material costs, and increasing nutritional needs and demands, making it imperative to protect our health. The world is currently living beyond its means, and it is leaving a lasting impact.
The solutions we innovate and produce give us and our customers the right to dream. They allow us to imagine a better world, where together we are capable of reaching a net-zero world that shows sustainable growth and contributes to fair and equal societies. As an illustration, our enzymes have saved 80 billion loaves of bread from being thrown away. This is an estimated saving of 650,000 tons of packaging plastic and 45 million tons of CO2.
Can you detail the advantages of your company's products and highlight any exciting innovations?
Our products embody the gentleness and efficiency of nature. Through bioengineering, we take existing natural solutions and scale them up for our customers, enabling the production of bio-based detergents, sustainable agriculture, and healthier foods, among other benefits. This process involves leveraging enzymes as biodegradable catalysts, creating solutions that mirror chemical processes but in a more tender, nature-oriented manner. We are essentially reinventing processes globally to be more aligned with nature’s way, ensuring the safety and health of our environment and consumers.
How do your biosolutions contribute to sustainability?
We believe that biosolutions can fast-track our journey toward meeting the Paris Agreement’s goals by offering existing solutions that can immediately reduce carbon emissions by 10%. We have to stop subsidizing the past. Biosolutions such as enzymes and microbes are part of the answer to feeding and fueling the world more sustainably – at speed and scale. World society must speed up the green transition to ensure a viable planet with healthy populations and sustainable growth. There is no future on a dead planet.
What is your global reach, and are there any geographical areas you are focusing on currently?
Novozymes has a global footprint, with substantial penetration in markets like Europe and North America, and we are rapidly expanding in Asia. Our solutions, such as those enhancing the shelf life of bread, have global relevance. For instance, our innovations in the baking industry prevent the wastage of approximately 80 billion loaves of bread annually. We are also facilitating the transition to plant-based nutrients, particularly in the US, where there is a significant demand. It is essential to offer sustainable protein solutions for the growing population without resorting to deforestation and unsustainable livestock farming.
Can you shed light on the typical timeline from the "Eureka” moment to bringing a product to market?
The timeline can vary greatly depending on whether the solution exists or needs to be developed from scratch. Drop-in replacements using existing solutions can be rapidly implemented. In contrast, breakthrough initiatives like plastic degradation or carbon capture might take three to five years to develop, including navigating patent and registration landscapes. Collaborations with partners such as Carbios and Saipem, who are pioneering technologies to facilitate the utilization of these solutions, play a significant role in this process.
Could you discuss the challenges you face in striving to achieve your company’s goals?
Given the broad spectrum of opportunities available, a significant challenge is prudent prioritization and cash allocation. Balancing our efforts to foster immediate impact and future potential is crucial. Despite the readiness of biosolutions to significantly advance our path to carbon neutrality, we find the world somewhat unprepared to fully embrace these alternatives.
Regulatory bottlenecks, often rooted in past frameworks, can impede the speed of solution penetration, requiring us to work closely with authorities to shape a more supportive regulatory landscape. Balancing the focus on current delivery with future potential, while maintaining fiscal responsibility, forms the crux of our challenge as we forge ahead.
With our report reaching a significant and diverse audience, including high-end politicians and the general populace through various mediums, what final message would you like to convey to them?
Think bold and think big. We must embrace the new possibilities that come with change and work together to create a fairer system. Currently, consumers are making choices based on visible costs, overlooking the hidden expenses tied to CO2 emissions and other environmental impacts. It is imperative that these hidden costs are reflected in the overall pricing of goods and services to foster a culture of conscious consumption. A true reflection of these costs would not only unveil the financial burden we all bear due to environmental consequences but also pave the way for fair competition in the market.
The technology to reduce 8% of global CO2 emissions currently exists; what we lack is swift collaborative action. Governments and policymakers should expedite processes to curb carbon emissions, encouraging everyone to work synergically towards a common goal. We are prepared to collaborate and play our part in this environmental dance, ready to move forward with a sense of urgency and sharp focus.
