Strengthening Healthcare for the Future: Abbott’s 2030 Global Sustainability Report

In the face of significant economic, social and health-related challenges around the world, corporate sustainability has never been more important.

Our 2030 Sustainability Plan puts our central purpose of helping people live better, healthier lives at the forefront. We’re laying the foundation for transforming our business over the next decade, advancing healthcare while remaining responsive to the pressing issues of today. By innovating for greater access and affordability and breaking down barriers to care, we intend to improve the lives of one in every three people on the planet – that's 3 billion people – every year by 2030.

With the release of Abbott’s 2021 Global Sustainability Report, the company highlights its progress over the past year, reaching 2.2 billion people through its products and services.

Check out key 2021 highlights below, and for a deep dive, read the full Global Sustainability Report.

• Innovating for access and affordability is key to our global sustainability plan. We’ve prioritized this by creating core design principles that will guide Abbott’s product innovation moving forward — embedding access and affordability into how technologies are developed and brought to the people who need them. Looking ahead, Abbott will track its progress in extending the reach of its innovation in key areas of impact, including reaching more people, transforming standards of care, improving health outcomes, delivering cost savings and strengthening infrastructure.
   
• Developing new technologies and advancing existing ones that connect people with the care they need. This includes technology like:
  • Next-generation continuous glucose monitoring provided by Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre 3 system, recently cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The size of just two stacked U.S. pennies, the FreeStyle Libre 3 system features the world’s smallest, thinnest1 and most accurate2 14-day glucose sensor on the market – for the same price as the FreeStyle Libre 2 system.
     
  • NeuroSphere Virtual Clinic, first-of-its-kind technology in the U.S. that allows people to visit remotely with their doctor and adjust their devices for pain and movement disorders directly through an app.
     
  • i-STAT Alinity TBI Plasma test, the first rapid portable blood test for concussions, which can provide results within 15 minutes after a plasma sample is inserted. This test could help eliminate wait time in the emergency room and could reduce the number of unnecessary, costly CT scans by up to 40%.
     
• Ensuring product quality by making products and services as if they’re for family. This commitment was at the forefront of our decision earlier this year to recall infant formula products made at one of our plants, which regrettably worsened an industry-wide shortage in the U.S. Our priority is doing everything we can to get infants and families the high-quality formula they need, and we’re sharing updates on its progress. Find more details here.
   
• Advancing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) throughout Abbott, with 44.6% of STEM-related positions and 40% of global management roles at the company now filled by women. Abbott also promoted DEI across the broader healthcare industry through an initiative with LISC to build a more diverse supply chain and a new program to make clinical trials more diverse.
   
• Transforming care for malnutrition and infectious diseases by establishing the Abbott Center for Malnutrition Solutions, distributing 1 billion COVID-19 tests across the globe in 2021 and launching the Abbott Pandemic Defense Coalition to help the world stay one step ahead of the next viral threat.
   
• Building a stronger, more sustainable Abbott across every part of the company, including:
  • Workforce: To continually create lifesaving solutions, we’re empowering our teams with skills to meet the health needs of tomorrow. Abbott provides a supportive, inclusive culture, and programs that help ensure employees’ continued development and that encourage them to build successful careers. One example in 2021: more than 17,000 Abbott employees completed a comprehensive leadership training program called Leading With Impact. Another program, called Freedom 2 Save, supported the financial security of employees by helping those with college debt save for retirement. Since launch in 2018, Abbott has provided $3.5 million in savings contributions to participating employees’ retirement accounts.
     
  • Environment:
    • Achieved 5% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions (compared to 2018 levels) and committed to a science-based target to further reduce global carbon emissions.
    • Laid groundwork for future water stewardship certification and management practice accreditation, including launching a new initiative in Spain to protect local water sources.
    • Minimized packaging and waste across Abbott’s operations and products, with eight new Abbott sites certified for sending zero waste to landfill – bringing the company’s total to 46 sites to date.
  • Data: Data and technology hold the key to transforming healthcare, and Abbott is committed to realizing this potential while protecting the information people share with us. We develop our products, processes and internal systems securely, embedding data-safety considerations in everything we do. And we created and published an enhanced public commitment to patient privacy and protecting sensitive data

References

¹Among patient-applied sensors.
²FreeStyle Libre 3’s User Manual.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

FREESTYLE LIBRE 3

Failure to use FreeStyle Libre 3 system as instructed in labeling may result in missing a severe low or high glucose event and/or making a treatment decision, resulting in injury. If glucose alarms and readings do not match symptoms or expectations, use a fingerstick value from a blood glucose meter for treatment decisions. Seek medical attention when appropriate or contact Abbott at 855-632-8658 or FreeStyleLibre.us for safety info.

DEEP BRAIN STIMULATION (DBS) THERAPY: Please read here for important safety information.