CRB installs new senior director of sustainability

The life sciences and food and beverage consulting firm CRB has named Mike Dieterich as its senior director of sustainability. Dieterich has more than 17 years of experience working in energy and sustainability. He’s led sustainability initiatives at companies such as AstraZeneca where he served as director, U.S. sustainability from January 2018 to April 2023.

With his appointment as the sustainability lead at CRB, Dieterich’s primary responsibility is to build the company’s energy and sustainability consulting services group, focusing on front-end energy and sustainability needs for biopharma and food and beverage manufacturing clients.

Pharma getting serious about sustainability

Pharma’s environmental impact is under the microscope, and companies ranging from AbbVie to Amgen have set ambitious goals to slash carbon emissions, waste and water consumption in the coming years.

A recent Cornell University study suggests the industry could halve its impact by optimizing manufacturing, enhancing supply chains and embracing renewables. The study scrutinized the life-cycle carbon impact of HIV drug tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF), highlighting manufacturing energy sources as a prime source of carbon emissions. While part of the solutions will be to develop novel manufacturing methods for new drugs, generics are another considering. Countries such as India and China with substantial generic drug production tend to rely on coal for energy, making the switch to renewables there an important consideration for the industry’s overall carbon footprint.

Meet Mike Dieterich

His educational background in environmental science from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Plattsburgh, along with his LEED AP certification, forms a foundation for his sustainability work. Dieterich has also given TEDx talks and presentations on sustainability at prestigious forums such as the U.S. Congress and the United Nations.He is also the author of “Renew and Sustain: A cutting edge approach to being socially responsible, environmentally conscious, and incredibly profitable for businesses, schools, and government.” 

In his most recent role, leading sustainability initiatives at AstraZeneca, he was responsible for developing and implementing sustainability strategies for the company’s U.S. R&D operations.

In the academic field, Dieterich serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston, where he teaches an undergraduate honors college course focused on energy and sustainability.