Alliance Healthcare
Carbon Reduction Plan
Commitment to achieving Net Zero
Alliance Healthcare Distribution Limited (“The Company”) has set an ambition to achieve Net Zero emissions by 2040 for Scope 1 and 2 emissions. The Company is a subsidiary of Cencora, Inc.
Alliance Healthcare has made a firm and public commitment to achieving net zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2040 — a commitment that reflects the responsibility we have as a significant participant in the UK healthcare system. The Company's net zero target has been extended from 2030 to 2040 to ensure that our transition is commercially resilient, operationally credible, and underpinned by a robust and deliverable decarbonisation roadmap — one that reflects the scale and complexity of our logistics operations while maintaining the integrity of our long-term commitment.
Governance
At the enterprise level, Cencora's corporate responsibility strategy, programmes and goals are directly overseen and approved by the Executive Management Committee and the Board of Directors, particularly through the Governance, Sustainability, and Corporate Responsibility Committee. This Committee reviews and guides the corporate responsibility strategy and monitors implementation and performance of objectives across the organisation. Corporate responsibility is included on the Board's skills matrix, reinforcing board-level commitment to environmental and social topics. The Global Corporate Responsibility team is led by the Vice President, Global Corporate Responsibility, and reports through to the Senior Vice President, Marketing, Communications and Public Affairs and to the Chief Legal Officer of Cencora.
Alongside these enterprise-wide priorities, Alliance Healthcare UK has established a clear decarbonisation ambition, with a commitment to achieve net zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2040. Delivery of this commitment is being supported through practical initiatives that strengthen long-term environmental performance and align with broader enterprise decarbonisation objectives. This includes the pursuit of BREEAM certification for the organisation’s newest facility. The base build has already achieved BREEAM Outstanding certification, and the business is now seeking a second BREEAM Outstanding rating during the fit-out phase, demonstrating a continued commitment to embedding sustainability into asset development and operational decision-making.
Emissions Reporting
The Company's emissions disclosures are prepared in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (Revised Edition), including the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scope 2 Guidance published by the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
All baseline and current year emissions include all direct (scope 1 GHG emissions) and indirect Scope 2 GHG emissions as well as relevant indirect Scope 3 categories - 4 -Upstream Transportation & Distribution; 5 -Waste; 6 -Business Travel; 7 - Employee Commuting; and 9 - Downstream Transportation & Distribution.
Baseline Emissions Footprint
| Baseline Year (1 October 2018 – 30 September 2019) | |
|---|---|
| In 2025, a re-baselining exercise was completed to reflect improved data accuracy, expanded boundary coverage, and enhanced integration across operations. This strengthens the integrity and comparability of our targets over time, ensuring performance is measured against the most accurate representation of our historical footprint. | |
| Emissions Category | Total (tCO₂e) |
| Scope 1 | 28,945 |
| Scope 2 market-based emissions | 2,610 |
| Scope 3 Category, 4,5,6,7 and 9 | 25,612 |
| Total Emissions | 57,167 |
Current Emissions Footprint
| Current Emissions Reporting Year (1 October 2024 – 30 September 2025) | |
|---|---|
| The Company reporting year is from the 1st of October 2024 to the 30th of September 2025 for all emissions shown in the table below. | |
| Emissions Category | Total (tCO₂e) |
| Scope 1 | 42,545 |
| Scope 2 market-based emissions | 2,369 |
| Scope 3 Category 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9 | 2,994 |
| Total Emissions | 47,907 |
Understanding Our Emissions Performance
Alliance Healthcare UK (AHUK) realised a 47% increase in Scope 1 while the business realised a 9% reduction in Scope 2 emissions compared with the fiscal 2019 baseline year.
The increase in Scope 1 emissions is primarily attributable to higher vehicle fuel consumption associated with delivery across the business. The reported increase also reflects continued improvements in emissions data quality, boundary coverage, and reporting completeness, including the refinement of refrigerant emissions reporting across UK locations. As a result, year-on-year changes reflect not only underlying operational growth, but also a more complete representation of AHUK’s emissions footprint.
For Scope 2 market-based emissions the reduction reflects the continued approach to procure renewable electricity and explore onsite renewable energy opportunities as part of its broader network review and decarbonisation strategy.
The emissions performance of the organisation’s emissions should therefore be viewed in the context of evolving reporting methodologies and ongoing efforts to strengthen data quality, including the recalculation of the FY2019 baseline in FY2025 to reflect improved estimates and assumptions.
From a strategic perspective, these results underscore both the complexity and the importance of decarbonizing a growing healthcare logistics business. Fleet-related fuel consumption remains a key driver of Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, reinforcing the need to accelerate transition planning in this area. Alliance Healthcare UK is responding through a combination of electric vehicle pilots, fleet and route efficiency improvements, and longer-term electrification planning.
Carbon Reduction Activities
The Company continues to advance a programme of targeted operational decarbonisation initiatives across its UK portfolio, spanning fleet electrification, site-level energy efficiency, renewable energy deployment. These initiatives are designed to deliver measurable emissions reductions in support of AHUK's net zero commitment.
Fleet Electrification
In Summer 2025, the Campaign piloted five electric vehicles (EVs) at its Swansea Service Centre, marking a significant step toward decarbonizing its delivery fleet.
The EVs exceeded expectations, achieving an average of 250 miles per day on a single charge and reducing emissions by 17.5 tons of CO2. The vehicles maintained temperature compliance, meeting the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) standards, and drivers praised their ease of use, quiet operation, and reliability. Learnings from the pilot are now shaping the Company’s long-term EV rollout strategy, which will help us progress toward a cleaner, greener future for logistics operations.
Building on this progress, installation of the electric van charging infrastructure at the Birmingham site is now underway. Procurement for the next phase of fleet deployment is also in progress, with approximately 20 electric vehicles currently expected to be introduced over the coming year. This represents a meaningful step in scaling EV adoption across the network and demonstrates continued progress in decoupling operational growth from emissions. The business expects this transition to accelerate over the coming years, supported by further operational and efficiency measures as it continues to reduce fleet carbon intensity.
The Company will continue to explore all opportunities, in the short-term investigating alternative fuels and for the longer-term, monitoring all developing and improving fleet and fuel technologies for its vehicles.
Energy efficiency and LED lighting upgrades
Onsite solar panel installation
Waste reduction, circularity and sustainable packaging
Alliance Healthcare UK continues to play an active role in supporting manufacturing and healthcare partners with logistics solutions that enable the recovery, return, and recycling of selected healthcare waste streams. By acting as a take-back and reverse logistics partner, AHUK helps divert waste from landfill and incineration while supporting broader circular economy, waste reduction, and sustainable packaging objectives across the UK healthcare system.
This work demonstrates how AHUK’s established distribution infrastructure, customer relationships, and operational expertise can be applied beyond traditional product delivery to create more sustainable end-of-life pathways for healthcare products.
- Re-Hale
AHUK supports the Re-Hale programme — a collaborative initiative with NHS Kent and Medway ICB focused on the recovery and recycling of used inhalers. Over the 12 months to September 2025, 72,930 inhalers were recovered from 109 dispensing sites across the Kent and Medway ICB region. AHUK enables the programme by distributing scheme materials, onboarding participating sites, and coordinating inhaler collections for recycling through a specialist third-party partner
- Pencycle
In 2025, PenCycle collected 613,000 returned pens across the UK’s devolved nations, representing an estimated 3% return rate. This resulted in 6.5 metric tons of plastic being recycled and diverted from landfill and incineration, delivering an estimated 7.2 metric tons CO₂e reduction. Since its launch in 2021, more than 4,500 healthcare settings had registered to participate by December 2025. AHUK supports the scheme by distributing programme materials, onboarding participating pharmacies, dispensing doctors, hospitals, and MOD sites, and coordinating the collection of empty returned pens from participating pharmacies for recycling.
- Strategic importance
These programmes demonstrate how AHUK's core distribution capabilities can be deployed to deliver environmental value beyond traditional product delivery — supporting manufacturers and healthcare systems in reducing operational waste, improving resource recovery, and advancing broader decarbonisation and sustainability objectives. In addition, the Company continues to support several manufacturing partners by providing logistics solutions that facilitate the recycling of their waste streams, acting as a take-back partner to divert specific waste types from landfill.
Declaration and Sign-off
This Carbon Reduction Plan has been completed in accordance with PPN 06/21 and associated guidance and reporting standards for Carbon Reduction Plans.
Emissions have been reported and recorded in accordance with the published reporting standard for Carbon Reduction Plans and the GHG Reporting Protocol corporate standard1 and use the appropriate Government emission conversion factors for greenhouse gas company reporting2.
Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions have been reported in accordance with SECR requirements, and the required subset of Scope 3 emissions have been reported in accordance with the published reporting standard for Carbon Reduction Plans and the Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard3.
This Carbon Reduction Plan has been reviewed and signed off by the board of directors (or equivalent management body).
Marie Evans
Managing Director, Alliance Healthcare
Dated: Aug 25, 2026