RATING
Outlook
Neutral
SECTOR
Medicinal Chemicals and Botanical Products
Chief Sustainability Officer
T: N/A
E-mail: N/A
Stock Exchange and Ticker
NYSE: PEE
Website
Contact
T: 212 733 2323
E.mail: N/A
Listing
N/A
Awards
- World’s Most Ethical Companies 2022
- Consecutive year on CDP’s Supplier Engagement Leaderboard (work to measure and reduce environmental risks in supply chain)
- Sustainalytics – Medium Risk
- Positively recognized through both the 2020 and 2021 Access to Medicine AMR Benchmarks.
- Rank 4 in the Access to Medicine Index
- 90% Score in the Disability Equality Index (DEI) in 2022
- Received 100% score on the Human Rights Foundation Corporate Equality Index, but Pfizer is one of the supporters/partners
- 5-star rating in procurement and governance by the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility, (Pfizer a member)
- # 38 in the Financial Times Annual Diversity Leaders list for UK (the average number of evaluations for each company in the ranking was 216)
- In 2021, Pfizer’s efforts with pay equity secured an ‘A’ grade on the Arjuna Capital/Proxy Impact Racial and Gender Pay Equity Scorecard
Revenue
$81,288M
Market Capitalisation
257.326B
Employees
79,000
Content source
Pfizer Sustainability Report
Evaluation of Pfizer
Pfizer’s ESG Report includes details about the company’s performance on Environmental, Social and Governance topics and contains non-financial disclosures covering the period of January 1, 2021, through December 31, 2021, unless otherwise stated. Pfizer aligns its progress with the environmental targets that have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in February 2021. Also according to Pfizer’s ESG report, the company calculates Scope 1 and 2 emissions in accordance with the GHG Protocol and discloses the Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions annually through the CDP submittal and publishes Scope 1+2 emissions in the ESG Report. The ESG has not been reviewed by a third party.
For the most part, Pfizer includes detailed information about the targets it aims to achieve, supported by the issuance of a second sustainability bond in 2021 that should address long-term corporate goals and annual targets related to carbon emissions and diversity, equity & inclusion. Given that 2021 was the year most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Pfizer played an important role with providing access to a vaccine in a fast manner. This covers several SDGs, but as a result of this, the company was also able to increase revenue by 95% from 2020.
Pfizer aims for climate neutrality by 2030 and is taking measures towards that, however at the moment of this evaluation it is hard to assess the progress, giving the several areas where Pfizer still needs to work on, like the waste management, the use of sustainable materials etc.
When it comes to governance, given the bribery scandals that Pfizer has been involved in, it appears that the company takes important steps to avoid that from happening in the future by establishing committees and creating transparency over addressing these practices. And this work has been acknowledged with an award received, one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere, but also other awards included in the report below. Furthermore, relationships with suppliers have also been applauded by CDP, which included Pfizer on the CDP’s Supplier Engagement Leaderboard.
Overall, Pfizer is making good progress towards reaching SDGs, but there are still areas to be addressed, in which case Pfizer is rated C with a Neutral Outlook.
Sustainability Scorecard
Pfizer Company Activity
Pfizer Inc. discovers, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells biopharmaceutical products worldwide. It offers medicines and vaccines in various therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular metabolic and women’s health, biologics, small molecules, immunotherapies, and biosimilars and sterile injectable and anti-infective medicines, and oral COVID-19 treatment. The company also provides medicines and vaccines in various therapeutic areas, such as pneumococcal disease, meningococcal disease, tick-borne encephalitis, and COVID-19, biosimilars for chronic immune and inflammatory diseases, and amyloidosis, hemophilia, and endocrine diseases. In addition, the company is involved in the contract manufacturing business. It serves wholesalers, retailers, hospitals, clinics, government agencies, pharmacies, and individual provider offices, as well as disease control and prevention centres. Pfizer Inc. was founded in 1849 and is headquartered in New York, New York. (Yahoo Finance)
Pfizer Sustainability Activity - As per company declarations
Pfizer’s commitment to a sustainable development is reflected in reducing the environmental impact of their medicines throughout the product life cycle, by addressing areas such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water scarcity and discharge, and elimination of substances of environmental concern. Pfizer pursues conservation of resources towards a circular economy and integration of green chemistry/biotechnology principles throughout their process lifecycles. By working to develop sustainable medicines criteria, it aims to demonstrate the social and environmental value of the products and to set targeted goals to facilitate improvement, transparency, and accountability. (Source)
Certificate & Labels, Standards and Frameworks
- ISO 14001 (at 10 manufacturing sites and 1 office locations)
- OHSAS 180001 (at 10 manufacturing sites and 1 office locations)
- VPP-Star (at 5 manufacturing sites, 2 distribution centres and 1 office location)
- GRI Index
- SASB Index
- TFCD
Pfizer in the news: Press Reviews and Social Media
Highlights from Pfizer Sustainability Report
Achievements
- 7% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 2019 baseline
- 4th Consecutive year on CDP’s Supplier Engagement Leaderboard
- 15% Reduction in water withdrawal and 13% reduction in hazardous and non-hazardous waste disposed compared to 2020
- 41.5% Representation for women at VP+ levels globally
- 25% Representation for U.S. minorities at VP+ level
- 3 out of 12 board directors identify as ethnically diverse
- 4 out of 12 board directors are female
- In 2021 launch a second Sustainability Bond and establishing a $7 billion, 5-year revolving credit facility, which included ESG KPI-linked metrics focused on long-term corporate goals and annual targets related to carbon emissions and diversity, equity & inclusion
Weaknesses and Setbacks
- Social targets only include women and minority representation in different roles
- No targets or detailed information about recycling programs, waste management and water management
- Out of 56 manufacturing sites, only 10 have ISO 14001 certification. Pfizer claims however, that all global operations comply with Pfizer Global EHS Standards that are similar to ISO 14001
- Renewable energy is only planned for North America sites
Targets vs Progress Reported
Target | Results reported |
---|---|
Increase annual sourcing of renewable electricity 100% by 2030 (2019 base year) | - 6.5% of the energy used in 2021 was from renewable sources - Pfizer entered a 15-year virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) for 310 MWh of renewable energy beginning in 2023 with Hornet Solar project to meet Pfizer’s North American electricity needs through solar energy |
Committed to limiting environmental impact of discharges from manufacturing processes | - Total hazardous and nonhazardous waste generation decreased by 18% in 2021 compared to 2020 - Water withdrawal in 2021 was 15% lower than 2020, and water discharges for the same period decreased 18%. Pfizer’s water consumption in 2021 was 14% of water withdrawal, a 2% increase compared to 2020 During calendar year 2021, the Kalamazoo, Michigan site recovered more than 50% of the total quantity of solvents used in its production operation thereby reducing the amount of solvent purchased and waste sent to off-site disposal |
64% of suppliers will have their own science-based GHG reduction targets by 2025 | - 10% of Pfizer’s suppliers by spend have GHG emission reduction targets approved by SBTi. Furthermore, since the procurement of goods and services is the most significant contributor to scope 3 emissions, Pfizer is asking suppliers to establish their GHG baseline no later than the end of 2022 and to set reduction targets aligned with SBTi guidance for their scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by the end of 2025 |
46% reduction in absolute scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 2030 (2019 base year) | - Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions reduced by 0.8% from 2020, in spite of production increases, and by 7% than the 2019 baseline. Reduction is due to reduction of office and in field sales operation |
25% reduction in absolute scope 3 emissions from business travel by 2025 (2019 base year) | - Travel related GHG emissions were 92% lower than the 2019 baseline. Digital tools will be continue to be used in order to reduce travel |
10% reduction in absolute scope 3 emissions from upstream transportation and distribution by 2025 (2019 base year) | - Logistic emissions increased due to the transportation and distribution of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine |
$401 million in net proceeds from the 2020 Sustainability Bond issuance have been allocated to environmental projects supporting green design and construction of new office and manufacturing facilities | - Design a new multi-product API manufacturing facility in Tuas, Singapore to increase energy efficiency and enable effective energy demand management, on track for completion in 2023 - Advance sustainable design principles in Pfizer’s new corporate headquarters to meet or exceed the Gold level of the US Green Building Council (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEEDv4) standard, and the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) WELLv2 Pilot Standard.Expected completion date, end of 2022 |
$1.25 billion ten-year “Sustainability Bond” where proceeds from the bond will help manage Pfizer’s environmental impact, strengthen healthcare systems and manage its social impact | - $270M of the Sustainability Bond to replenish The Pfizer Foundation to: - Address pneumonia, leading cause of death in children (Kenya) - Address antimicrobial resistance (AMR) (Kenya) - Improve quality and availability of essential medicines (Ghana) - Help strengthen long-term capacity, improve primary and upskill healthcare workers to reduce childhood mortality (Indonesia) - to contribute to reductions in childhood mortality by strengthening community-level prevention, diagnosis, and treatment to improve access to quality care (Uganda) - to help improve infectious disease education, screening, testing, treatment, and care through federally qualified health centres and safety clinics in the U.S - $20M over 5 years in the AMR Action Fund, expected to help bring novel antibiotics to market and, importantly, re-establish an innovation ecosystem to support long-term antibiotic development - $39M to fund the delivery of the Sayana® Press contraceptive n order to provide women in low resource, non-clinic settings with access to a method of contraception |
By 2025, aim to achieve global workforce parity of 47% for women at the VP level and above | - At the end of 2020, the representation for women at the VP level and above was 38.1%. By December 2021, it increased by 3.4 percentage points to 41.5% |
By 2025, aim to achieve parity at the VP+ level for U.S. minorities by increasing the minority representation from 19% to 32% and doubling the underrepresented population of African Americans/Blacks and Hispanics/Latinos | - By 2025, aim to achieve parity at the VP+ level for U.S. minorities by increasing the minority representation from 19% to 32% and doubling the underrepresented population of African Americans/Blacks and Hispanics/Latinos At the end of 2020, it was reported that representation for U.S. minorities at the VP level and above was 21.5%. By December 2021, it has increased by 3.5 percentage points to 25% |