CPHI Milan Puts Sustainability to Work, Part 2

Sustainability in pharmaceutical manufacturing is at an inflection point, according to Silvia Forroova, who leads partnerships and sustainability for the CPHI portfolio at Informa Markets. Speaking ahead of the new Sustainability Summit at CPHI Milan this October, Forroova argues that the biggest obstacle to commercially viable sustainability programs is the angle organizations apply when strategizing on sustainability: companies still treat sustainability as a cost rather than part of a long-term plan of investment and returns. Compounding this are regulatory complexity, short-term financial pressures, supply chain opacity, and a lack of standardized metrics across the industry.

The companies pulling ahead, she says, are reframing sustainability as risk mitigation and competitive advantage by co-creating solutions with suppliers, benchmarking against peers, and building medium- to long-term strategies around resilience and value creation.

Forroova positions the Summit as a working session rather than a lecture series, built around peer learning, matchmaking-style networking, and actionable frameworks. Continuity matters as much as the event itself: the Sustainability Collective will keep momentum going afterward through reports and updates, helping members apply what they've learned with peers and partners.

On measuring success, Forroova points to a tiered view of outcomes: immediate adoption of shared frameworks, medium-term gains like reduced Scope 1–3 emissions, and cost savings from waste reduction, energy efficiency, or circular packaging, and longer-term wins including regulatory readiness ahead of mandates, market differentiation, and industry-wide adoption of best practices.

Sessions will span green chemistry, data, packaging, and sustainable clinical trials, drawing on collaboration with organizations including PSCI, BioPhorum, Alliance to Zero, My Green Lab, HPRC, CiPPPA and many more. Forroova's message to pharma sustainability practitioners and decision-makers: sustainability is now a regulatory, financial, and reputational necessity central to industry resilience, and the Summit is designed to turn ambition into measurable business outcomes.

Click the video above to watch the part 2 of the interview.

Click here to watch part 1.

About the Speaker

Silvia Forroova is the director of Partnerships & Sustainability for the CPHI portfolio at Informa Markets. With more than 18 years of experience in global events, she specializes in strategic partnerships within the pharmaceutical industry.

Silvia leads sustainability initiatives across the CPHI portfolio of events, developing strategies that drive positive environmental impact for trade events and the wider pharmaceutical industry. She is also the founder of the Sustainability Collective, an impact network that brings together change-makers from across the pharmaceutical industry to foster collaboration, share insights, and drive tangible progress on sustainability challenges.