Johnson & Johnson Releases 2021 Health for Humanity Report Highlighting Performance on ESG Priorities and Progress Against Public Commitments

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Jun 08, 2022, 08:00 ET

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., June 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) today published its 2021 Health for Humanity Report, which shares progress against its purpose-driven Health for Humanity 2025 Goals and serves as its annual disclosure on environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. In year one, we have exceeded one Health for Humanity 2025 Goal and are on track to deliver against the remaining 20 goals.

"Events from the past two years have only reinforced our understanding of the critical importance of good health," said Joaquin Duato, Chief Executive Officer, Johnson & Johnson. "During these extraordinary times, we held tight to our values, kept patients at the center of everything we do and never lost sight of Our Purpose to advance health. Driven by our Health for Humanity 2025 Goals, our 144,000 employees helped to improve health outcomes for patients and healthcare providers; to nurture a culture that embraces diversity, promotes equity and fosters inclusion; and to strengthen the communities in which we live and work."

In 2021, we continued to focus on solving challenging global health issues that align with our ESG strategic priorities. Built on a foundation of accountability and innovation, these strategic priorities – championing global health equity, empowering our employees and advancing environmental health – guided how we worked to create value for the stakeholders we serve. Highlights from the 2021 Report include:

Championing global health equity

We fostered better health for people, communities and the planet, improving access and affordability around the world:

Continued our long-standing commitment to address diseases that disproportionately impact some of the world's most underserved communities, including tuberculosis and HIV, and to apply our expertise and partnering power to expand global equitable access to our company's portfolio of medicines and health technologies
Donated > 2 billion doses of VERMOX since 2006 to facilitate treatment of intestinal worms
Provided 731,000 nurses, midwives and community health workers with skills, tools and growth opportunities*
Invested in culturally competent community care models to close racial health gaps, reaching 159,000 healthcare professionals and researchers in the U.S. as part of Our Race to Health Equity platform, a $100 million five-year U.S. commitment to help eradicate racial and social injustice as a public health threat*
Supported 3,200 fistula repair surgeries through suture donations in 17 countries

Empowering our employees

We cultivated a workforce that is healthy, inspired and reflective of those we serve:

Refreshed our Enterprise diversity, equity and inclusion strategy, and increased global representation of women and ethnic, racially diverse employees at all levels of our business while reinforcing a culture of inclusion and belonging
Recommended as a great place to work by 87% of employees

Advancing environmental health

We protected environmental health and the resilience of our business:

Reduced global CO₂e emissions (Scope 1 and Scope 2) by 34% since 2016
Signed the Race to Zero/Business Ambition for 1.5°C campaign, aiming to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2045

Accountability & innovation

We are committed to science and data-driven decision making, compliance, integrity and responsible business practices across the value chain:

Spent $5.22 billion with small and diverse suppliers, exceeding our Health for Humanity 2025 Goal in year one
Increased our R&D spend to $14.7 billion, the highest annual spend in our recent history

Reporting Frameworks and Standards

The 2021 Report has been prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards: Core option, and we report our performance against GRI's Culture of Health for Business (COH4B) framework.
The 2021 Report includes the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Index, providing disclosures against relevant SASB Standards and Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), building on Johnson & Johnson's responses to the CDP climate questionnaire in previous years.
New in the 2021 Report, we've added Norges Bank Investment Management and Basel Institute on Governance's "Measuring effectiveness of anti-corruption programmes" reporting framework, augmenting disclosures against this set of 17 indicators.
The 2021 Report also serves as our annual United Nations Global Compact Communication on Progress.

"As the most broadly based healthcare company, our commitment to creating a healthier society is foundational to our business," said Joseph J. Wolk, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Johnson & Johnson. "How we deliver meaningful impact to human health is correlated with generating long-term business results, which are complementary to ESG actions that create accountability and value."

Johnson & Johnson will hold an ESG Investor Update Webcast featuring Joaquin Duato; Joseph J. Wolk; Peter Fasolo, Executive Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer, Johnson & Johnson; three members of the Johnson & Johnson Board of Directors and leaders from across the Enterprise on June 21, 2022 at 8:30 a.m. ET to outline its progress and performance related to its ESG strategy, including highlights from the 2021 Report. Investors and other interested parties can pre-register for the webcast by visiting: https://investor.jnj.com/esg-update.

* Funded in part by the Johnson & Johnson Foundation, a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee, and by the Corporation and operating companies across the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies. The Foundation operates worldwide as Johnson & Johnson Foundation US (founded 1953) and Johnson & Johnson Foundation Scotland (founded 2007).

Johnson & Johnson Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)

At Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), we're driven by Our Purpose to change the trajectory of health for humanity. Our ESG strategy focuses our efforts on the areas where we are uniquely positioned to achieve the greatest impact – championing global health equity, empowering our employees and advancing environmental health – and builds on a foundation of accountability and innovation. We create long-term value by helping to achieve better health outcomes for patients and healthcare providers, foster rewarding opportunities for our employees and suppliers, protect and strengthen the communities in which we live and work, and provide profitable, sustainable growth for investors. Our Health for Humanity 2025 Goals align to our ESG strategy, support 11 of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and are how we hold ourselves publicly accountable. Read more about our progress in our Health for Humanity Report.

About Johnson & Johnson

At Johnson & Johnson, we believe good health is the foundation of vibrant lives, thriving communities and forward progress. That's why for more than 130 years, we have aimed to keep people well at every age and every stage of life. Today, as the world's largest and most broadly-based healthcare company, we are committed to using our reach and size for good. We strive to improve access and affordability, create healthier communities, and put a healthy mind, body and environment within reach of everyone, everywhere. We are blending our heart, science and ingenuity to profoundly change the trajectory of health for humanity. Learn more at www.jnj.com. Follow us at @JNJNews.

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding, among other things: future operating and financial performance, product development, market position and business strategy. The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations of future events. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results could vary materially from the expectations and projections of Johnson & Johnson. Risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: economic factors, such as interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations; competition, including technological advances, new products and patents attained by competitors; challenges inherent in new product research and development, including uncertainty of clinical success and obtaining regulatory approvals; uncertainty of commercial success for new and existing products; challenges to patents; the impact of patent expirations; the ability of the Company to successfully execute strategic plans; the impact of business combinations and divestitures; manufacturing difficulties or delays, internally or within the supply chain; product efficacy or safety concerns resulting in product recalls or regulatory action; significant adverse litigation or government action, including related to product liability claims; changes to applicable laws and regulations, including tax laws and global healthcare reforms; trends toward healthcare cost containment; changes in behavior and spending patterns of purchasers of healthcare products and services; financial instability of international economies and legal systems and sovereign risk; increased scrutiny of the healthcare industry by government agencies; the Company's ability to satisfy the necessary conditions to consummate the separation of the Company's Consumer Health business on a timely basis or at all; the Company's ability to successfully separate the Company's Consumer Health business and realize the anticipated benefits from the separation; the New Consumer Health Company's ability to succeed as a standalone publicly traded company; and risks related to the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic, such as the scope and duration of the outbreak, government actions and restrictive measures implemented in response, material delays and cancellations of medical procedures, supply chain disruptions and other impacts to the business, or on the Company's ability to execute business continuity plans as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. A further list and descriptions of these risks, uncertainties and other factors can be found in Johnson & Johnson's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 2, 2022, including in the sections captioned "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" and "Item 1A. Risk Factors," and in Johnson & Johnson's subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of these filings are available online at www.sec.gov, www.jnj.com or on request from Johnson & Johnson. Any forward looking statement made in this release speaks only as of the date of this release. Johnson & Johnson does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information or future events or developments.

SOURCE Johnson & Johnson