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Summary

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany has published its 2021 Sustainability Report, describing in detail the progress the company has made towards its sustainability goals.

Report Highlights

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany has published its 2021 Sustainability Report. The report describes in detail how the company is moving towards and tracking its three sustainability goals: Achieving human progress for more than one billion people through sustainable science and technology; integrating sustainability into all of the company’s value chains; and achieving climate neutrality as well as reducing resource consumption. For the first time, the report details the key indicators the company uses to measure its sustainability-related progress and impact. 

Our impact on the SDGs
The adoption of the United Nations (U.N.) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was a call to action for governments, companies, and citizens globally to end poverty and hunger, protect the planet, and ensure healthy lives for all. The world is now at the halfway point of this historic 15-year initiative. We continued to align our sustainability activities with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our aim is for our business activities to create shared value that is both measurable and makes a recognizable contribution to those goals and to society. In 2021, we continued to monitor our contributions to the achievement of the SDGs, and we visualized how our strategies, targets and actions relate to individual SDGs, using our interactive SDG tool.

Towards sustainability leadership
We made progress towards reaching our three sustainability goals in 2021. Regarding climate action, we decreased our Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 9% compared to the previous year. Also, we increased the share of electricity purchased from renewable sources from 27% to 30%; our overall goal is to convert 80% of our purchased electricity to renewable sources by 2030 and to achieve climate-neutral operations throughout our entire value chain by 2040.

Last year, we furthermore announced our intention to achieve gender parity in all leadership positions worldwide by 2030. We have made good progress over the years, increasing the percentage of women in leadership roles to 36%.

To combat the tropical worm disease schistosomiasis in endemic African countries, we provided our 1.5 billionth tablet to the World Health Organization in 2021. We remain on track to help achieving its elimination as a public health problem by 2030.

In November 2021, we established an external committee for sustainability issues. This Sustainability Advisory Panel consists of six renowned independent international experts on sustainability-related topics. They advise the company on selected issues such as societal and political developments and assess related sustainability aspects as well as the company’s planned activities.

Continuing the fight against Covid-19
Sadly, the Covid-19 pandemic continued to hold the world in its grip in 2021. Yet Merck adapted its ways of working to secure business continuity. With our products and expertise, we further supported the fight against Covid-19. Our comprehensive commitment covers three main areas: Prevention & Production; Diagnostics & Therapeutics; Engagement & Collaboration.

Sustainability insights
Our 2021 Sustainability Report features a story section, where we highlight a broad range of topics such as our efforts to create new ways of recycling plastics, our innovations in the treatment of schistosomiasis, and the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion.

We have prepared our 2021 Sustainability Report in accordance with the GRI Standards “comprehensive” option. It also incorporates the reporting requirements set forth by the SASB standards and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). And it shows the progress we have made in implementing the principles of the U.N. Global Compact (Communication on Progress). Our non-financial statement in accordance with the German Commercial Code (HGB) including relevant EU Taxonomy Regulation disclosures is integrated in our 2021 Annual Report.

Media Contact: 
Timo Breiner:
+49 151 1454 2512