Dräger [ETR: DRW3]

At Dräger, we believe that sustainability and profitability are not opposing themes; they are fundamentally interdependent. There can be no lasting environmental progress without economic viability and no enduring business success without a sustainable foundation.

A Connected Approach to Sustainable Innovation The healthcare sector is under increasing pressure to reduce its environmental footprint. Yet no single stakeholder, neither MedTech companies nor hospitals, can achieve carbon neutrality and circularity alone. That’s why we focus on collaboration. By connecting with our customers, especially hospitals and healthcare centers, we gain a holistic understanding of their specific challenges.”

This connected approach allows us to address not only CO₂ emissions but also broader sustainability goals like waste reduction and circularity. These efforts are not just about compliance or reputation. They are about building a resilient, future-ready business model that delivers value to all stakeholders.

At Dräger, we have an internal commitment to embed sustainability into every aspect of our operations. It means fostering cross-functional collaboration between departments, from R&D to procurement to production, to identify and act on opportunities for reducing our environmental footprint. It also means empowering our employees with the knowledge, tools and shared purpose to make sustainable choices in their daily work. By connecting people, data and processes today, we lay the foundation for a more resilient, resource-efficient and future-ready organization, one where sustainability is not a separate initiative but a core part of how we operate and grow.

Decarbonizing the MedTech Value Chain

MedTech is a highly diverse sector. There are more than 2 million medical technologies, spanning over more than 7,000 generic device groups. On our decarbonization path, we focus on reduction of emissions across all scopes, 1, 2 and 3.

Scope 3 emissions are typically a significant contributing factor to the overall footprint of an organization. Those include emissions generated by suppliers, logistics and raw material extraction, but also during and after the lifetime of products. At Dräger, we are working with our partners to increase transparency, in particular on carbon data. For example, we have just launched an internal CO₂ dashboard that enables everyone in the company to understand CO₂- contributing elements they can influence and hence drive the ability to tackle it across the entire organization.

“There can be no lasting environmental progress without economic viability and no enduring business success without a sustainable foundation.”

In manufacturing, we encourage our employees to embrace process optimization and use their expert knowledge about the processes to identify improvements. End-to-end considerations, our Air2Sea initiatives and the approach of frugal innovations offer the opportunity to reduce transportation, resource usage and emissions. Resulting innovations not only lower our environmental impact but also improve operational performance, demonstrating how sustainability and profitability go hand in hand.

Circularity as a Business Model

Circularity is another area where sustainability and profitability converge. Going beyond traditional recycling, the circular economy starts with the design of products and business models aiming to circulate products, components and material at their highest value. Thus, it offers economical solutions to global sustainability and supply chain challenges.

The main impact of our medical device products during their use phase by our customers, such as hospitals, is energy consumption. At the end of life, the products are mainly disposed of locally. As we operate in a highly regulated industry in which specific material properties are required, such as hygiene and safety regulations, circular economy models have only been established to a limited extent to date. Instead, our products focus on eco-design criteria such as reparability and durability. We already offer reusable alternatives to a wide range of our consumables portfolio, newly introduced our patient filter portfolio with significant plastic savings and are currently conducting studies to test the use of more secondary and alternative materials.

Together with our Waste Management department, we offer product take-back schemes in specific countries, like our internal soda lime recycling and are constantly developing our service offerings globally.

As we advance our circular economy processes and applications further, long-term customer relationships play a crucial role. Besides being able to learn how we can help them on their own journey to become more sustainable, those relationships support a shift from ownership to service-based solutions of medical devices, which is another key element of the circular economy.

Twin Transformation for a digital and sustainable future

Digital transformation can be a key driver of sustainable innovation in the MedTech industry, enabling intelligent systems through AI, interoperability (SDC) and data analytics that optimize resource and energy efficiency. Features such as remote services, predictive maintenance and electronic instructions for use (eIFU) can not only extend equipment lifecycles and support customers’ cost targets but also minimize transportation emissions and waste across the value chain. Here is where regulatory requirements play an important role in further driving transformation. For example, the European Commission has now introduced a significant amendment to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/2226, impacting how medical device manufacturers provide instructions for use (IFU). This update, outlined in the latest draft Commission Implementing Regulation, aims to expand the scope of electronic Instructions for Use (eIFU) to a broader range of medical devices, reflecting a clear preference among healthcare professionals for digital access to critical information. This at the same time enables saving significant amounts of paper previously required to be associated with medical devices being provided to customers.

Packaging and Shipping: Small Changes, Big Impact

Sustainability doesn’t stop at the operating room. Logistics and packaging are also undergoing a transformation. A notable example is the replacement of cardboard boxes with reusable shipping bags. This shift not only reduces the carbon footprint but also improves profitability by lowering shipping volume and weight. In an average month, up to 3,000 deliveries are now sent to our customers in the shipping bags as opposed to cardboard boxes. Other improvements include reduction of material thickness of inlays for shipments, through which we not only achieved weight reduction during transport but also CO₂ reductions and cost improvements. It’s a great experience for employees when they realize which levers they were able to pull through their own ideas for improvement.

Profitability Through Purpose

At Dräger, we are convinced that sustainability is a driver of long-term profitability. Energy efficiency reduces costs. Circular models open new markets. Sustainable products meet growing customer demand and financial stakeholders’ expectations. And most importantly, they align with our mission to protect, support and save lives—today and tomorrow.