AstraZeneca plans to invest $200 million in its manufacturing facility in North Ryde, Sydney, Australia to increase the facility’s production capabilities for respiratory medicines to treat asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The investment follows a $100-million investment announced in 2017. The investment is expected to increase exports to $4.4 billion over the next four years and create 250 jobs, according to the company.

Separately, AstraZeneca is planting 25 million trees in Australia as part of the company’s global initiative to plant 50 million trees worldwide over the next five years to 2025. AstraZeneca is working alongside its global partner, One Tree Planted, a not-for-profit reforestation organization, and other local organizations to begin the reforestation program in Australia. The program, the AZ Forest initiative, complements the company’s “Ambition Zero Carbon” strategy, a $1-billion plan that was announced last month (January 2020) with the goal of having the company’s global operations achieve zero emissions by 2025 and be carbon-negative across its entire value chain by 2030.

Source: AstraZeneca