How Abbott Is Shaping the Future of Health by Innovating for Access and Affordability
Abbott recently released its 2020 Global Sustainability Report, detailing the company’s work to help the greatest number of people to live better and healthier, and providing a comprehensive overview of the company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance.
Over the past year, Abbott has made a significant contribution to addressing COVID-19 and other global challenges, while laying the groundwork for a healthier future with the launch of its 2030 Sustainability Plan, which lays out an ambitious goal to improve the lives of one in every three people on the planet by decade's end. Read on for these and other key highlights.
2030 Sustainability Plan
Abbott’s 2030 Sustainability Plan is the company’s roadmap to improve the lives of more than 3 billion people every year by 2030, with an intentional focus on innovating for access and affordability to reach more people in more places than ever before. This includes dedicated work to:
- Make access and affordability core to new product innovation;
- Transform care for chronic disease, malnutrition and infectious diseases; and
- Advance health equity through partnerships with others.
“The emphasis of our 2030 Plan is on the priority where we can make the greatest impact and do the most good for the most people: in focusing our future innovation on creating products that are affordable and accessible to more people than ever before,” said Robert B. Ford, President and Chief Executive Officer, Abbott. “Using our primary expertise to help the world achieve greater total health at lower total cost is the most meaningful way we can contribute to the long-term sustainability of our society and our planet — helping more people than ever before live their best, healthiest and fullest lives.”
COVID-19
2020 was an unprecedented year, as the world navigated the impacts of a global pandemic. And Abbott stepped up like never before, applying its longstanding expertise, life-changing technologies and capabilities, and global scale to make a significant impact.
The company’s 2020 Global Sustainability Report spotlights how the company led COVID-19 response efforts, moving at an unprecedented speed and scale to supply hundreds of millions of tests to more than 140 countries worldwide. Abbott also mobilized partners to launch the first-of-its-kind Pandemic Defense Coalition to help prevent the next pandemic, and supported its employees, communities and health systems amid a global crisis.
Building the diverse, innovative workforce of tomorrow
Abbott is building the workforce of tomorrow by reskilling its teams, advancing STEM opportunities and focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
As an extension of Abbott’s global sustainability strategy and reporting, the company also recently released its 2020 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Report. This report provides updates and insights on how the company is building diversity and inclusion in its workplace and culture by attracting, engaging and developing talented people who share Abbott’s values, along with examples of partnerships to advance health equity in communities around the world.
A decade of progress: 2020 environmental goal results
Abbott continued to deliver progress in shrinking its environmental footprint, as reflected in its 2020 environmental goal results. Abbott shared results of its 10-year work, reducing carbon emissions by 50%, water use by 33% and waste by 47%.
And looking ahead, Abbott is already working to deliver even more progress over the next decade. Protecting a healthy environment is a crucial pillar of the company’s 2030 Sustainability Plan, with targets in priority areas including addressing climate change, protecting water resources, and reducing packaging and waste.
You can see Abbott’s full 2020 Global Sustainability Report here, and its 2020 DEI Report here.
