Sustainability firmly embedded

We believe that we can harness science and technology to help tackle many global challenges such as climate change, resource scarcity and unequal access to health. Always guided by a robust set of values, we approach all our actions and decisions with a sense of responsibility. Sustainability has been vital to us for many generations.

We can only ensure our own future success by creating lasting added value for society through our core business. As a sustainable enterprise, we seek to balance environmental, social and governance aspects – for us as a business, for our stakeholders and for society at large.

For a global science and technology company like us, sustainability is an essential component of our Group strategy. Through our business activities, we want to be economically successful and create value for society. At the same time, we endeavor to avoid generating subsequent costs
for society.

Clear goals

We want to create long-term added value for society, which is why we have defined three goals within our sustainability strategy:

  • In 2030, we will deliver more sustainable solutions through our portfolio.  
  • By 2030, we will fully integrate sustainability into all our value chains.
  • By 2040, we will achieve climate neutrality and reduce our resource consumption.    

Overall, our sustainability strategy is centered on seven focus areas, within which we realize and will continue to realize numerous initiatives and projects. We measure our progress using 16 sustainability key indicators.

 

Three goals, seven focus areas

Our Sustainability key indicators

Strategic Goal   Value chain    Sustainability key indicator   2024    2023   More information
1 Own operations Percentage of newly published patent families with positive sustainability impact 34 29 
1 Downstream Number of people treated with our Healthcare products (in million) 184 177 S4
1 Downstream Number of people treated with pharmaceutical products enabled by our Life Science business sector (in million) 424 310 
2 Own operations Result of the Employee Engagement Survey on sustainability culture not published not published G1
2 Own operations Environment, health and safety (EHS) incident rate 2.2 2.4 S1
2 Own operations Lost time injury rate (LTIR) 1.2 1.3 S1
2 Upstream Percentage of relevant suppliers (in terms of number) that are covered by a valid sustainability assessment 75 66 S2
2 Upstream Percentage of relevant suppliers (in terms of spend) that are covered by a valid sustainability assessment 94 94 S2
2 Own operations Violations of Global Social and Labor Standards Policy 57 60 S1
3 Own operations Greenhouse gas emissions Scope 1 and 2 (in metric tons) 1,085,124 1,463,000 E1
3 Upstream; downstream Indirect greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 3 intensity: metric tons CO2eq per € million gross profit) 359 371 E1
3 Upstream Percentage of purchased electricity from renewable sources 52 51 E1
3 Own operations Circularity rate (in %) 69.2 67.8 E5
3 Own operations Water efficiency (m3 per € million net sales) 588 576 E3

Doing our part to achieve the SDGs

In working towards these goals, we are helping reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are a blueprint of how to achieve a sustainable future and are apart of the United Nation 2030 Agenda - a global plan to promote sustainable peace and prosperity and to protect our planet. To achieve this ambitious vision we all must work together. And we are all called upon to make our best possible contribution.

Out of 17 SDGs in total, we contribute the most to the following seven SDGs with our business and our behavior:

  • SDG 3: Health and well-being
  • SDG 5: Gender equality
  • SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth
  • SDG 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure
  • SDG 12: Responsible consumption and production
  • SDG 13: Climate action
  • SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals

In addition, our management approaches and projects also support SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 6 (Clean water and sanitation) and SDG 7 (Affordable and clean energy)

How we contribute to the SDGs

External Advice on Sustainability

The Sustainability Advisory Panel advises us with external expertise on selected issues and contributes best-practice experience from other areas. To this end, we engage independent, internationally recognized experts on sustainability-related topics. They contribute their knowledge of social and political trends as well as ideas that could have strategic relevance for our business.