Environmental stewardship position statement
Purpose
A healthier planet supports healthier people, which is why we are constantly working to better understand how we can minimize the environmental impact of our operations and products. As we transform patients’ lives through science; we believe that access to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, including clean air and water, is a universal human right. This position statement provides our environmental sustainability principles across climate, emissions reduction through energy efficiency and cleaner energy, water stewardship, waste management, pharmaceuticals in the environment, responsible sourcing and how we engage our stakeholders. In most cases, we provide links to additional resources to further understand the details of these areas. |
Our ambitions
We strive to support a healthier planet by reducing our environmental impact, better understanding our dependencies on nature and increasing the transparency around our actions. Our legacy of pioneering life changing science drives our aspirations to advancing human health. We recognize the vital connection between healthy ecosystems and thriving communities, as emphasized by the World Health Organization. We continually review and assess our ambitions and progress to ensure we remain aligned with our business while delivering against our objectives.
We understand that our operations—from research and development to clinical trials, to manufacturing and distribution—impact the world around us, and we are working to address these challenging environmental issues at each stage. We have designed and implemented environmental goals that not only reflect our science-led, innovation-focused approach, but also uphold accountability to those we serve through strong governance and transparent reporting practices.
Environmental sustainability governance
At Bristol Myers Squibb, our corporate sustainability and social impact (SSI) strategy is meaningfully tied to our company’s business strategy, as the opportunities and potential impacts of environmental-related risks are directly interrelated to our business. Accordingly, our SSI operating model links core business considerations with our SSI framework and ensures engagement and alignment from BMS’ most senior leaders, with core support from key functional areas. Led by our Board Chair and CEO, our SSI efforts are overseen by the Board of Directors (Board). This strategy is also tightly integrated into our enterprise risk management (ERM) program.
We take a holistic approach to evaluating environmental and climate risks and consider the entire value chain in our reviews. This approach to risk management helps protect our operations and creates value for stakeholders, including our patients, employees and global communities where we operate. We utilize scenario analysis as one of our tools to understand the potential implications of different climate-related and environmental risks, assessing the nature, likelihood and magnitude of risks, aligned with our ERM process. ERM and our Enterprise Risk Committee play a critical role in identifying and managing risks and opportunities, including those related to climate and the environment.
Our Environmental Advisory Committee (EAC) is a key component of our governance structure, with sponsors and leaders from key sustainability-related business units and functions. The EAC is pivotal in fostering cross-functional collaboration and ensuring that our sustainability initiatives are integrated enterprise-wide.
Our SSI Strategy & Reporting Steering Committee works to ensure BMS is prepared for regulated environmental, social and governance disclosures that accurately reflect our material matters. This sub-group includes Corporate Financial Reporting, Business Controls, Corporate Governance, Internal Audit, Sustainability and Social Impact and Legal.
BMS maintains an inventory management plan (IMP) to outline our environmental data collection management and calculation approaches for developing organization-wide annual inventories across energy, waste, water and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Our GHG inventory is developed in alignment with the GHG Protocol, with additional guidance from the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi), Corporate Net-Zero Standard, and the RE100 Technical Criteria. The IMP is reviewed annually and updated as necessary. For all environmental sustainability reporting, we utilize an operational control approach (as defined by the GHG Protocol) in which we report on all owned and leased sites that meet the following criteria: (a) all manufacturing sites, regardless of size; (b) research and development (R&D) sites that are greater than 50,000 square feet; and (c) distribution centers, warehouses and offices that are greater than 100,000 square feet.
Environmental performance data is collected from various subject matter experts (preparers and reviewers) across the organization, and ultimately utilized to calculate organizational-wide inventories. Annually, we assure environmental data (GHG statement of emissions, energy usage, water withdrawal) through a third-party auditor prior to publicly reporting. Results of the assurance process, and discussions with the assuring organization help us to enhance our processes year over year.
Climate mitigation and climate adaption
At BMS, our approach to climate risk management is forward-looking and is intended to position us to navigate the challenges and leverage the opportunities presented by a changing climate, ultimately equipping us with the knowledge to make better business decisions. We continue to build our practice of conducting climate risk assessments that incorporate a range of scenarios and time horizons, reflecting our commitment to robust strategic planning. These assessments are grounded in the latest scientific data and methodologies, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Representative Concentration Pathways , the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways and the International Energy Agency, which inform our understanding of potential physical and transition risks. Our climate risk assessment is a continuously evolving process that encompasses a wide scope, including an enterprise-wide approach across multiple geographies. This allows us to identify and prioritize risks and opportunities across our diverse portfolio.
Supporting our belief that a healthy environment is critical to human health, we had our climate-related targets approved by the SBTi in 2024. BMS has set an ambitious goal to reach net-zero GHG emissions across our value chain by 2050, starting from a 2022 baseline. In the near-term, BMS aims to reduce Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions and Scope 3 GHG emissions (from fuel and energy related activities) by 54.6% by 2033 and engage 75% of our suppliers, by emissions (Scope 3 categories 1, 2 and 4), in their development of science-based targets by 2028.
Please see our Climate Change Report (based on IFRS S1 and S2), located within our transparency and reporting page for more detail on our identified physical and transition risks and opportunities and our scenario analysis. You can also find more detailed information on our climate risks and opportunities in our most recent CDP Response.
Reducing emissions through energy efficiency and
cleaner energy
Achieving our science-based GHG targets requires an enterprise mindset and collaboration across our business and value chain. Our internal subject matter experts and trusted outside advisors perform detailed evaluations and use technology to identify and implement energy savings projects that help us meet our objectives. Our approach to managing energy efficiency is implemented by our global facilities and engineering teams.
We have set a target to achieve 100% of purchased electricity from renewable sources in our operations by 2030. We expect to achieve our target by building on our current renewable energy portfolio, using virtual power purchase agreements as an important part of our strategy.
Please see our most recent Building a Better Future Report and Climate Change Report located within our transparency and reporting page for progress, details on projects, opportunities we have identified that contribute to energy efficiency and our shift towards renewable energy.
Water stewardship
BMS is committed to understanding its water use and regularly evaluates opportunities to implement water conservation in our operations. We recognize that stress caused by water scarcity is expected to increase due to rising temperatures, increased drought risk and continued economic growth. We review publicly available baseline water stress data on an annual basis to ensure the most up to date water stress evaluation.
We are working to implement water stewardship across our operations. This includes: implementing the Alliance for Water Stewardship standards at BMS facilities that operate in stressed watersheds; reducing the water footprint in BMS’ direct operations through conservation, reduction, reuse and/or other innovations; and increasing our understanding of the water footprint of our external supply chain.
Across BMS’ global footprint, we adhere to stringent corporate standards that govern water use and wastewater discharge. We start with clean, efficient pharmaceutical manufacturing processes that minimize the volume and composition of wastewater, and provide effective and appropriate treatment for the anticipated loading as required by local laws, regulations and permit conditions. Treatment may be provided at our facilities and/or at authorized third party treatment facilities.
Please see our most recent Building a Better Future Report for progress, details on projects and opportunities we have identified that contribute to water efficiencies. You can also find more detailed information on our water-related risks and opportunities in our most recent CDP Response.
Waste management
Across our global facilities and through the individual and collective efforts of our people and suppliers, BMS continually identifies and implements measures to reduce, reuse and recycle materials. While we work hard to develop sustainable packaging and minimize our packaging footprint, our priority is the safety, efficacy and integrity of the product inside. We strictly adhere to regulatory requirements around pharmaceutical product quality and safety, including packaging specifications and requirements.
BMS continually assesses our hazardous waste and non-hazardous waste management program for material reuse and waste reduction opportunities in parallel with disposal options. We work with our external waste management partners to identify new waste disposal and recycling/reuse technologies and our internal business teams to decrease hazardous material needed in operations. New hazardous waste opportunities and material reduction reviews through our pollution prevention and waste minimization programs are continuously monitored for material and waste generation reductions.
Please see our most recent Building a Better Future Report for progress, details on projects and opportunities we have identified that contribute to waste reductions.
Pharmaceuticals in the environment
BMS aims to minimize the potential environmental impact of pharmaceuticals in the environment while conducting business in a safe and environmentally sustainable manner. We integrate principles of resource conservation, pollution prevention and environmental responsibility into our business processes, facilities, operations and products. BMS collaborates with governments, industry, educational institutions and the public in support of regulations, research and programs that address concerns related to the environment and health and safety.
Please see our pharmaceuticals in the environment global position statement for more information.
Responsible sourcing
Our responsible sourcing program is designed to provide enhanced visibility of our suppliers' environmental and social risks and performance, and to encourage continuous improvement across the BMS supply chain through ongoing management and engagement.
BMS procurement brings critical goods and services from the best suppliers for the research and development of our medicines. We do so by building relationships with our suppliers based on transparency, trust and business ethics while ensuring compliance with policies and regulations and optimizing the end-to-end process. Our flexible, adaptable and agile model allows us to successfully navigate changes in the business and market in partnership with our suppliers.
We work collaboratively with our suppliers to set goals, improve capabilities and tackle together the many challenges of a complex supply chain. Over time, our expectation is that our suppliers meet specific requirements while simultaneously demonstrating leadership and innovation.
For more information on responsible sourcing, please visit our supplier page, view our Responsible Sourcing Handbook, or view our Supplier Code of Conduct (Standards of Business Conduct and Ethics for Third Parties).
Stakeholder engagement
Stakeholder engagement is an integral part of our efforts to achieve our Mission. We recognize that discovery, development and delivery of innovative medicines to address unmet medical needs are improved by partnership and understanding of stakeholder needs and expectations. Our stakeholders include patients and the broader healthcare community, our employees, business associates, government, non-governmental organizations, investors, academics, industry organizations, patient advocacy groups, suppliers and communities.
Engagement with our stakeholders provides opportunity for greater understanding of emerging issues, trends and expectations, fosters increased trust and support and provides synergies. Addressing stakeholder expectations and emerging issues as part of our business strategy facilitates the sustainability and success of our company.
Please see our stakeholder engagement page, as well as position statements on individual topics to learn more about how we engage our stakeholders.