Since the turn of the century, there’s been a growing recognition that the health of our friends, families, & communities is intimately tied to the health of our physical environment. Safe water, clean air, & a diverse, balanced ecosystem are essential conditions for life to thrive & innovation to flourish.As a company focused on healthcare & life sciences, we believe it’s our responsibility to focus not just on the health of the patients we ultimately serve, but on the natural world in which we all live. Sustainability & ecological responsibility are some of our most important corporate values, which help to anchor us in the work we do every day.That’s why COTA has been working closely with our partners in the pharma community to better understand our carbon footprint & other impacts on the environments in which we all live, work, & play. It’s not as easy as it sounds, especially for a distributed, remote team that doesn’t manufacture, ship, or sell physical goods. After all, we don’t have factories or vehicle fleets that produce emissions, & it’s a tall order to quantify the environmental impact of the digital activities completed in hundreds of individual home offices across the country. But we’re working on it. And just like with everything else we do, we are taking a carefully planned, methodical, scientific approach to doing so. For example, we have launched an internal sustainability committee of cross-functional leaders to establish our ecological mission statement, begin work on assessing our environmental impact, & collaborate with an external environmental consultant to accelerate our sustainability efforts.We’re also working with EcoVadis, a trusted sustainability intelligence platform, to benchmark ourselves in key areas of corporate responsibility, including the environment, labor & human rights, ethics, & the sustainable procurement of goods & services. We’re proud to have earned recognition from EcoVadis for our commitment as we continue to gather data & build out our sustainability program & goals. Last but not least, we are investing in developing & meeting science-based targets for our ecological impact, which involves collecting energy use information on our remote team members, corporate headquarters, digital service partners, & more. It’s a complex process with lots of moving pieces, but we know that it’s the little things that can add up to big changes.As our CEO, Miruna Sasu says, “COTA’s primary mission is to bring clarity to cancer care, but we also want to bring clarity to how we’re changing the world from an environmental standpoint. We’re invested in remaining aligned with the life sciences & healthcare industries in their move toward more sustainable activities, & we’re very eager to work with our partners to make positive changes that can ensure this beautiful planet stays healthy & vibrant for many centuries to come.”During this crucial time to shed light on these issues, especially as climate change continues to impact the world around us, COTA is dedicated to evaluating & improving our sustainability now & in the future.
