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Putting Health at the Center of Sustainability: Abbott Reports on Progress in Expanding Health Access, Broader 2030 Plan Performance

ABT | September 12, 2024

NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / September 12, 2024 / Abbott's 2023 Global Sustainability Report tracks progress towards the global healthcare company's 2030 Sustainability Plan goals to deliver strong sustainability performance across its operations - supporting the company's central focus of helping more people in more places to live their healthiest possible lives.

Innovating for Access in Health

Innovation is meaningless if it doesn't reach the people who need it. That's why expanding access and affordability of care is central to Abbott's goal to improve the lives of one in every three people on Earth each year by 2030.

The company's Access and Affordability Design Principles, which have been integrated across Abbott's businesses since 2022, help identify opportunities to expand the reach of Abbott's life-changing technologies. Abbott also works across its businesses and in partnership with others to remove the barriers that stand in the way of good health, in communities around the world. A few examples of this work:

Because more than 80% of people who need a pacemaker require pacing in two chambers of the heart, Abbott introduced the world's first device to offer beat-to-beat wireless communication and synchronization between two leadless pacemakers, each of which is smaller than a triple-A battery - opening access to leadless pacing for millions of people.
We announced an agreement that will provide greater access to biosimilar medicines for more people in key emerging markets, together with global biotech leader mAbxience.
In Tanzania, Abbott and Abbott Fund worked with the government to expand the reach of emergency medicine to nearly 1.3 million people - the latest results from more than 20 years of partnership. The cover of this year's report features the program's 2023 graduates in emergency medicine, reflecting our ongoing commitment to building local healthcare capacity.

Sustainability in Everything We Do

To innovate for greater access and affordability in health, we've integrated sustainability principles across our business. This is helping us make solid progress toward the goals outlined in our 2030 plan - from protecting a healthy environment, to building the workforce of tomorrow. A few examples of this work:

In the past year, Abbott achieved a 7% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions, making good progress toward our goal of a 30% reduction from our 2018 baseline, and established a $15 million annual environmental sustainability capital fund to support energy efficiency projects. We reduced our water use by 3% overall, and four sites achieved Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) certification. We also increased the number of sites sending zero waste to landfill to 53 globally.
In our 2030 plan, we set a goal to create 1 million development and job opportunities for current and future employees and to create opportunities in STEM programs and internships for 100,000 young people. In 2023, we were already exceeding our expected progress - so we're now doubling those goals for 2030.

See Abbott's full 2023 Global Sustainability Report for more details on these areas - and to learn more about how we responsibly connect data, technology and care, strengthen our global supply chain and deliver product quality.