Baxter Meets Its Renewable Power Goal Early as Detailed in 2012 Sustainability Report
Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX) today issued its 14th
consecutive Sustainability Report, available at http://sustainability.baxter.com,
detailing the company’s commitment and progress to creating lasting
social, environmental and economic value by addressing the needs of
stakeholders worldwide.
Baxter employee Hannah Jeon and her daughters regularly volunteer at the Red Cross Community Center in Seoul, Korea, to bake loaves of bread for underprivileged members of the community. (Photo: Business Wire)
''Sustainability encompasses virtually every aspect of how we do
business,'' said Robert L. Parkinson, Jr., Baxter's chairman and chief
executive officer. ''Just as Baxter’s mission is to save and sustain
lives, we are committed to helping our many global stakeholders thrive.''
Highlights from Baxter’s 2012 Sustainability Report include:
-
Exceeding Baxter’s goal
of using 20 percent renewable
power in its facilities by 2015. In 2012, 22 percent of Baxter's
total energy use for operations was from renewable energy sources due
in part to several on-site renewable energy projects. These included
installation of a photovoltaic (PV) system at Baxter’s Toongabbie,
Australia, facility that produces sufficient electricity for the
office complex with the exception of the heating, ventilation and air
conditioning (HVAC) system, and installation of a comprehensive
geothermal cooling system at Baxter’s Orth, Austria, facility that
uses the relatively constant temperature of the groundwater for
cooling and heating the building, as opposed to traditional HVAC
chiller systems. In late 2012, Baxter’s Malta facility began
installation of the company’s largest on-site PV system that will
provide approximately 23 percent of the site’s electricity and reduce
the site’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 1,100 metric tons carbon
dioxide equivalent annually.
-
Reducing GHG
emissions by 12 percent on an absolute basis since 2005, 39 percent
indexed to revenue, placing Baxter on track to exceed its 2015 goal to
reduce GHG from operations 45 percent indexed to revenue. This is due
in part to adoption of innovative technologies such as Baxter’s Malta
facility converting 95 percent of its lighting to high efficiency
light emitting diode (LED) technology, and three facilities using
boilers powered by sustainably sourced biomass fuels.
-
Creating a Human
Rights Policy and updating its Ethics
and Compliance Standards for Suppliers to encourage business
partners to make similar efforts in the area of human rights. Baxter
evaluates the sustainability performance of its suppliers, including
related to human rights, via a survey to learn about each supplier’s
sustainability programs and identify opportunities for best practice
sharing and collaboration to improve the performance of both Baxter
and its suppliers. Baxter routinely conducts quality audits of its
suppliers and joined the Pharmaceutical
Supply Chain Initiative in 2012, a group of pharmaceutical
companies who share a vision of better social, economic and
environmental outcomes for all those involved in the pharmaceutical
supply chain.
Baxter's nine sustainability
priorities reflect issues of key concern to Baxter and its
stakeholders in areas where the company is positioned to have a positive
impact. Priorities include strengthening access to healthcare, enhancing
math and science education, and a range of environmental initiatives
such as reducing energy use, waste generation, and water use.
Baxter's 2012 Sustainability Report is aligned with the Global Reporting
Initiative guidelines, which provide a uniform and transparent set of
metrics to systematically report on sustainability initiatives and
results.
Baxter Earns Recognition for Sustainability Performance and Disclosure
Based on its sustainability performance, Baxter was included for the
12th year in Corporate Responsibility magazine's 100
Best Corporate Citizens list. The annual survey draws from firms in
the Russell 1000 Index and is based on more than 320 data points of
publicly available information in seven categories: environment, climate
change, employee relations, human rights, governance, finance and
philanthropy.
Baxter placed second in the Environmental Tracking (ET) Scope 3
Disclosure Leader Award rankings and ranked 13 and 35 in the ET North
America 300 and ET Global 800 Carbon Rankings, respectively, based on
transparent, public disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions that follow
reporting guidelines and are externally verified. These rankings are
compiled by the Environmental
Investment Organisation, an independent not-for-profit research body
promoting carbon transparency and investment solutions designed to
address climate change.
Baxter Joins National Health Organization Supporting Environmental
Practices
Baxter recently joined Practice Greenhealth, a membership organization
that provides a forum for collaboration with other healthcare companies
and organizations that are committed to improving their environmental
performance as well as that of the healthcare industry. Baxter’s
membership is just one way the company encourages improved environmental
performance within the company and across the industry.
Baxter has held environmental stewardship as a priority for more than
three decades, and has long set environmental goals for waste, energy,
greenhouse gas emissions, water and packaging as well as measuring
progress and reporting results. As part of its mission to save and
sustain lives, Baxter is committed to addressing environmental and
social issues across the life cycle of its products. These range from
sustainable design and bioethics during research and development, to
energy and materials efficiency during manufacturing and transport, to
responsible advertising and promotion, and finally, product repair,
refurbishment and recycling for electronic products as appropriate at
end-of-life. Baxter also has programs to ensure high standards in
quality, safety and product integrity.
To further these efforts, Baxter launched a new Product Sustainability
Program in 2012, building on extensive collaboration among its research
and development, marketing and supply chain groups. The program team
initiated new projects to define life cycle environmental impacts for
both individual products and entire therapies. Additionally, Baxter’s
product portfolio includes two products that were the first medical
products to receive Carbon Footprint certification from the Carbon
Trust, which provides independent verification of the carbon footprints
of products and services.
About Baxter
Baxter's commitment to sustainability spans more than three decades. The
company is included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and has been
recognized by Corporate Responsibility magazine as one of the 100
Best Corporate Citizens and Newsweek’s Green Rankings as the
leading U.S. healthcare company. Baxter is a member of the Center for
Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, Center for
Corporate Citizenship at Boston College, and the Ethics & Compliance
Officer Association. The company endorses the Ceres principles and is an
Organizational Stakeholder of the Global Reporting Initiative. Further
information about Baxter’s sustainability activities can be found at www.sustainability.baxter.com.
Baxter International Inc., through its subsidiaries, develops,
manufactures and markets products that save and sustain the lives of
people with hemophilia, immune disorders, infectious diseases, kidney
disease, trauma, and other chronic and acute medical conditions. As a
global, diversified healthcare company, Baxter applies a unique
combination of expertise in medical devices, pharmaceuticals and
biotechnology to create products that advance patient care worldwide.
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