Working Toward a Sustainable Future

April 22 is Earth Day, a day to pause and reflect on the importance of protecting and preserving the environment and ensuring a sustainable future for everyone.

At Merck, we are working hard across the Company to minimize the environmental impact of our day-to-day activities. This includes reducing energy consumption at our facilities and finding innovative ways to make our manufacturing processes “greener” and more energy-efficient. We also are helping to improve the communities in which our employees live and work through the efforts of Merck programs and volunteers.

In these and other ways, Merck is working to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to responsible environmental stewardship.

Improving Energy Efficiency

Merck strives to ensure the efficient and responsible use of energy in our global operations. Energy efficiency is a key criterion when we purchase equipment and services. And we encourage our employees to conserve energy both at work and at home through events, awareness campaigns and other regular communications.

As a Company, we continually seek opportunities to promote energy conservation at our facilities worldwide. In 2005, Merck achieved an 8.6 percent reduction in energy usage over the previous year at our offices, labs and manufacturing facilities in North America.

These efforts have paid off in more ways than one. In addition to benefiting the environment, Merck’s energy conservation efforts are helping the Company reduce operating costs. And others are taking note of our leadership in this area. In March 2006, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) named Merck an ENERGY STAR^® Partner of the Year for our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through effective energy management.

Even as we celebrate the progress we have made to date, we believe it is important to do even more. For this reason, Merck’s internal Global Energy Team (GET) has set an aggressive, Company-wide goal of reducing energy usage by 25 percent through 2008 from a 2004 baseline (BTU per unit area). To help achieve this goal, Merck facilities across the globe are undertaking a range of measures that include, among other things: installing sensory switches; retrofitting or replacing lighting, heating and air-conditioning units; installing high-efficiency equipment; and optimizing chilled water systems. The team is also placing increased emphasis on improving energy usage awareness and behaviors and identifying efficient building characteristics, including energy savings design elements and operational practices of buildings, to reduce energy and water use. 

Taking Energy Conservation to New Heights

Some Merck facilities are taking energy conservation a step further. In Rahway, NJ, Merck has created a virtually pollution-free “clean energy” building, that combines the use of both solar panels and a fuel cell. This is the first project of its kind to integrate fuel cell and solar power at a pharmaceutical company in New Jersey.

The building features Merck’s first solar energy system. The 500-kilowatt system includes 1,600 solar panels that cover the roofs of two buildings on the Rahway campus – one of the largest roof-mounted solar installations in the state of New Jersey. Our “clean energy” building is also powered by an industrial fuel cell, which produces clean energy using hydrogen from natural gas. The building is nearly self-sufficient in producing the electricity it needs, with virtually no greenhouse gas emissions.

Reducing our Environmental Impact

Merck is working to lessen our environmental impact in other ways. In 2004, the Company succeeded in reducing its worldwide carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 26,000 metric tons. This is the equivalent of taking 5,732 cars off the road or the mitigation effects of planting 7,852 trees. Merck also has eliminated its use of coal-fired boilers throughout the world.

As a Company, we recognize that climate changes and greenhouse gas management are issues of global concern. As a member of the Business Roundtable’s Climate RESOLVE program, Merck supports the goal of enhanced voluntary company actions to control greenhouse gas emissions. The Company also has established a greenhouse gas emissions inventory and greenhouse gas emissions management goals.

Green Chemistry at Merck

Merck is also making significant progress in the area of “green chemistry.” Green chemistry focuses on improving efficiency and reducing or eliminating the use or generation of hazardous substances by applying innovative chemistry and technology to the design of synthetic processes.

Merck scientists are pioneering new advances in such areas as separation sciences and catalysis. Merck scientists recently demonstrated improved energy efficiency and process throughputs by using supercritical fluid chromatography for the preparation of pure compounds. In addition, scientists at Merck Research Laboratories are applying state-of-the-art catalysis technology for the industrial scale manufacture of Merck drug substances.

Merck received a 2005 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award for redesigning the synthesis of the active ingredient in one of our medicines. This streamlined, environmentally friendly process cut the number of processing steps in half while doubling yield and significantly reducing environmental impact. To learn more about green chemistry at Merck, click here. 

Champions for the Environment

Merck is making a positive contribution to the communities in which we work and live by supporting a wide range of charitable, educational and environmental initiatives worldwide. Many of these community projects are made possible by the active volunteer participation of our employees.

The year 2006 marks the 12^th anniversary of Merck’s “Champions for the Environment” program, which provides grants to support environmental projects initiated by Merck employees, who volunteer to work alongside community volunteers on environment projects in communities around the world where the Company operates facilities. Through the Champions for the Environment program, Merck supports environmental projects that encourage ecological awareness, community service, teamwork and education. Each project is championed by a Merck employee on behalf of a local non-profit partner, including schools, local government agencies and environmental and youth organizations.

Merck’s Champions for the Environment program has been making a difference in communities around the world. Recent projects have included:

• Reforesting unpopulated areas with indigenous plants in Alcala, Spain;
• Helping to build a garden, bird sanctuary and recycling center in Ballydine, Ireland;
• In partnership with two technical schools and a waste recovery company in La Vallee, France, initiating an innovative new diploma program to mentor and provide lessons to students on waste management, safety and industrial hygiene, and hazardous materials;
• Wetlands clean-up and educational programs in West Point, PA;
• In partnership with the Hangzhou Youth & Children Center in Hangzhou, China, hosting an “environmentally focused summer camp” that was so successful it became the model for an annual event;
• Helping a local zoo create a protective habitat for endangered owls in Midrand, South Africa.

To learn more about the Merck Champions for the Environment Program, click here.