Putting Purpose Into Action: Sustainability Strategy

Our approach focuses on identifying our material sustainability issues, tracking expectations and performance against them, and reporting our progress and aspirations.

Our approach focuses on identifying our material sustainability issues, tracking expectations and performance against them, and reporting our progress and aspirations.

OUR MATERIAL ISSUES

We undertake regular reviews to monitor and assess our top sustainability issues — from product innovation to supplier and customer engagement.

We focus on issues that:

• Have the potential to significantly impact our business growth, finances, or reputation
• Are important to our stakeholders
• Are aligned with our Mission

In FY20, we updated our list of material issues after engaging with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders. This included conversations with key internal stakeholders, investors, policymakers, governments, customers, industry association representatives, and nongovernmental organizations.

The three focus areas within our list of material issues, where we have a particular opportunity to make a difference, are listed below.

• Innovation and Access — Increasing the availability of treatments through therapy innovation and a new application of existing technologies, as well as accessibility to them through capacity building, infrastructure improvement, regulatory approval, and remote diagnosis or treatment.
• Product Quality and Safety — Managing product quality as it relates to all key stakeholders through Design, Reliability, Manufacturability (DRM); supplier quality; and global compliance and corrective action.
• Inclusion and Diversity — Advancing fair treatment and adequate representation of ethnicities and gender through equitable professional opportunities and pay and proactive inclusion of groups facing barriers.  

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

By working with and learning from our stakeholders and peers, we can meet challenges more effectively and amplify the positive impact of our business. Engaging with others also helps us understand what’s expected of us and holds us accountable for our actions.

We engage with our key stakeholders through a range of mechanisms and for a variety of purposes, including:

• Sharing information, holding ourselves accountable, and seeking feedback on our approach and performance
• Communicating our expectations and standards with employees, suppliers, and partners
• Sharing expertise and knowledge, including through training and capacity building
• Providing support, for example, through Medtronic Foundation programs, volunteerism, giving, and  disaster relief
• Working with others to develop new products, widen healthcare access, and advocate for change

SUSTAINABILITY MANAGEMENT  AND GOVERNANCE

The Nominating and Governance Committee of the Medtronic board of directors oversees the company’s  ESG practices and has been including specific ESG agenda topics in each of its quarterly meetings during FY20. In addition, other committees engage in climate-related discussions as appropriate.

Our Sustainability Steering Committee (SSC) guides our companywide approach to sustainability, and we embed sustainability throughout our operations.                                          

Managing risks and creating opportunities

We continually monitor emerging sustainability issues, so that we can anticipate risks and create value from opportunities. We include more detail about our most significant business risks in our 2020 Form 10-K and 10-Q filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Business continuity and crisis management

Preparedness for unexpected events is key to our resilience as a business. Incidents such as global health crises, political unrest, and extreme weather have the potential to impact our employees’ lives and disrupt our operations or supply chain.

Our Business Continuity Management program helps us stay ready for the unexpected. It focuses on four key areas:

• Business continuity. We put resources and contingency plans in place so we can continue to operate and meet the needs of our patients and customers in adverse circumstances.
• Crisis management. The Medtronic Crisis Management team prioritizes and coordinates resources and response activities during crisis situations and is sponsored by members of our Executive  Committee. The operational response is supported by the Medtronic Global Command Center and leadership across Medtronic.
• Emergency response. We prioritize keeping our people and assets safe and work to minimize environmental impact.
• IT disaster response and recovery. We respond quickly to technological failures and work to reinstate affected infrastructure.

Read the full report.