Sustainability

2030 Sustainability plan: Evolving to meet a changing world’s needs

We’re designing access and affordability into our products to reach one in three people every year by 2030.

At Abbott, sustainability means managing our company to deliver long-term impact for the people we serve – shaping the future of healthcare and helping the greatest number of people live better and healthier.

In order to create a stronger and healthier world, we — and companies like ours — need to evolve. Focusing solely on cutting-edge innovations alone won't be enough. Our 2030 Sustainability Plan is focused on designing access and affordability into our life-changing technologies and products. Our goal is to improve the lives of 3 billion people by decade's end – reaching 1 billion more than we do today, each year.

That will require innovating for access and affordability from the first day of research and development. We also are working across our business and in partnership with others to break down barriers and bring these innovations to the people who need them.

But that's just the beginning. There's so much more. Find out more about how we're bringing our purpose to life through our 2030 Sustainability Plan.

It's ingrained in everything we do.

This is our 2030 Sustainability Plan

Today, building and preserving health is more important and complex than ever, with impacts ranging from infectious and chronic diseases, to malnutrition, to widening social and economic gaps across society.

For more than 130 years and through all of that history's uncertainty, Abbott's purpose has never wavered: We help people live fuller lives through better health. That's why health is at the core of how we think about sustainability and is central to our strategy for sustainable growth.

Mounting a response to escalating challenges

The world's healthcare systems were already overburdened by the growing impacts of aging populations and chronic disease — and that was before COVID-19. Access to care is limited. Cost is always a concern and health gaps are widening across society.

Half of all people lack access to essential health services. 

There's an 18-year difference in life expectancy between rich and poor countries.

Humanity will need nearly 11 million additional health workers by 2030.

Global annual healthcare spending is projected to reach $15 trillion by 2030.

Those are big numbers. They demand a big response. This is ours.

Innovate for access and affordability
By 2030, we intend to improve the lives of 3 billion people — more than one in three people on the planet — every year

Our 2030 targets

Make access and affordability core to new product innovation

We'll design our technologies and products for broader access and affordability at every step – from every phase of our R&D process, to the materials we use, to manufacturing, to the ways we reach the people who need them.

  • Integrate access, affordability and data insights as design principles into our R&D work and portfolio.

Transform care for chronic disease, malnutrition and infectious diseases

Across our business and through collaboration, we'll create new technologies and find new answers for chronic health conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, malnutrition, and infectious diseases such as COVID-19, HIV, malaria and hepatitis, as well as tomorrow's pandemic threats.

  • Support global efforts to address noncommunicable diseases, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

    • Innovate to transform the standard of care for diabetes and support efforts to bend the diabetes curve through innovative technology, prevention and education, early diagnosis, treatment and nutrition.
    • Deliver breakthrough technologies, improve clinical outcomes and impact the lives of people with or at risk of cardiovascular disease.
  • Deliver scalable, integrated solutions to help reduce preventable deaths and infectious diseases (malaria, hepatitis B/C, HIV, COVID-19 and others) with diagnostics, treatment and education programs, especially in high-prevalence areas.

Advance health access through partnership

We will work side-by-side with people and communities we serve, partners, governments and other stakeholders to address health disparities, expand access and remove barriers that prevent people from living healthy lives, wherever they are.

  • Expand affordable access to healthcare for underserved and at-risk communities, including women and children, by delivering innovative, decentralized models of care that advance prevention and early diagnosis, improve nutrition, provide quality treatment and care, and lower total costs.
  • Partner with stakeholders to improve health outcomes by advancing standards and building access to affordable, integrated solutions.
Sustainability in everything we do
To deliver results on advancing access to innovation, we will continue to build a more sustainable business through the actions we take every day.

Our 2030 targets

Build the diverse, innovative workforce of tomorrow

New ideas come from different places and points of view. To achieve our ambitions, we're actively shaping our organization for the future by advancing STEM education and internships, and empowering our teams with skills to meet the health needs of tomorrow.

  • Provide 2 million development and job opportunities for current and future employees.
  • Create opportunities in Abbott’s STEM programs and internships for more than 200,000 young people.
  • Continue to create a meaningful employee experience and advance Abbott’s culture.
  • Achieve at least 45% female representation across our global management team.
  • Achieve at least 45% female representation in STEM roles.
  • Support workforce representation that is reflective of the communities we serve around the globe.
  • Anticipate Abbott’s future workforce needs and achieve talent readiness.
  • Continue to drive 100% leadership accountability by tying executive compensation to talent and succession planning targets.
  • Maintain or improve rates of internal succession for leadership roles.
  • Support the financial security of employees by helping those with college debt save for retirement, expanding Abbott’s Freedom 2 Save program by providing $10 million in matching contributions to participants’ retirement accounts.
  • Fill 50% of targeted new jobs with internal talent by upskilling, cross-skilling, and creating learning opportunities.
  • Continue to provide industry-leading programs that help people achieve their personal health and well-being.

Responsibly connect data, technology and care

Our data insights and connected technologies help people and their doctors make better, faster and more complete decisions about their health in ways that fit easily into their lives. Just as important, we protect our patients and customers through secure and responsible data collection.

  • Be a trusted healthcare leader in secure and responsible data collection, use, management and privacy in order to protect our patients and customers, empower them to make better, more complete decisions about their health and drive innovation through insights and analytics.

Ensure a resilient, diverse and responsible supply chain

We're building a more resilient supply chain, including working to expand opportunities and actively engaging with suppliers to meet our high quality standards.

  • Certify that newly contracted direct material spends incorporate responsibility requirements.
  • Ensure ethical sourcing from all suppliers with high-risk sustainability factors through 100% auditing.
  • Continue to help safeguard our supply chain to mitigate single-source and supply shocks.
  • Increase small business spend to support supply chain strength and resilience.

Protect a healthy environment

We're working across our operations and with key suppliers to sustainably manage our water use and address climate change by reducing carbon emissions and expanding renewable energy. And we'll reduce the environmental impact of our product packaging and minimize waste in our operations through reuse and recycling programs across our company.

  • Reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 30% from 2018 baseline by the end of 2030, consistent with the objectives of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
  • Work with our key carbon-intensive suppliers to implement sustainable programs to reduce our Scope 3 carbon emissions.
  • Achieve water stewardship certification at all high-water-impact manufacturing sites in water-stressed areas.
  • Implement accredited water stewardship management practices in more than 75% of all manufacturing sites operating in water-stressed areas.
  • Work with 50 key suppliers in high water-stressed areas to reduce water quality and quantity risks to Abbott and the community.
  • Address 50 million pounds of packaging through high-impact sustainable design programs that:

    • Employ circularity principles through smart design and material selection
    • Eliminate and reduce materials
    • Improve the energy efficiency of Abbott's products
    • Optimize packaging, pallet and truckload efficiency
  • Reduce waste impacts using a circular economy approach to achieve and maintain at least a 90% waste diversion rate.
  • Engage with key suppliers to reduce the environmental impact of materials sent to Abbott that become waste in our operations and develop and track supplier waste diversion initiatives.

Sustainability reporting hub

For Abbott's sustainability performance reporting and data insights:

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