Johnson & Johnson Releases 2020 Health for Humanity Report Highlighting Performance and Progress on Environmental, Social and Governance Priorities

Rhea-AI Summary

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) released its 2020 Health for Humanity Report on June 9, 2021, detailing its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. The report highlights progress towards the company's 2020 Goals, its response to COVID-19, and new 2025 Goals, emphasizing health equity and community support. Notable initiatives include a $50 million commitment to health workers and advancements in healthcare access. The report adheres to GRI Standards and includes SASB and TCFD disclosures, showcasing JNJ's dedication to transparency and sustainable value creation.

Positive

• Achieved significant progress on 2020 Health for Humanity Goals.
• $50 million commitment to support frontline health workers during COVID-19.
• New Health for Humanity 2025 Goals focus on social equity and community health.
• Adherence to GRI, SASB, and TCFD reporting frameworks enhances transparency.

Negative

• None.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., June 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) today published the 2020 Health for Humanity Report (Report), which serves as the Company's annual disclosure on environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance and illustrates progress toward fulfilling its corporate purpose to change the trajectory of health for humanity. The Report documents the Company's performance and provides information on how the Company generates long-term social, environmental and economic value for all stakeholders; provides an accounting of the final year of progress against the Johnson & Johnson Health for Humanity 2020 Goals and U.N. Sustainable Development Goals Commitment; and details new Health for Humanity 2025 Goals.

"As our world continues to grapple with concurrent and converging health crises, the need to prioritize public health as the foundation for a thriving global economy and society has never been more urgent or more clear," said Alex Gorsky, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Johnson & Johnson. "While our company has been taking on the world's biggest health challenges for over a century and we are proud of the incredible progress against the 2020 Goals detailed in this year's Report, we know we must continue to invest in sustainable ways to bring life-enhancing healthcare products and solutions to everyone, everywhere."

Highlights from the Report include:

Our COVID-19 Response Efforts

• An overview of the Company's dedication to combating the COVID-19 pandemic, including:
• Development of a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine and a steadfast goal to facilitate equitable, worldwide access.
• The ability to maintain supply of critical medicines, devices and products for customers, patients and consumers.
• Efforts to provide equipment, training, products and financial donations to support communities and healthcare workers on the front lines.
• Details on how the Company protected employees with a variety of workplace enhancements for the one-third of the global 136,000+ employees who continued to work throughout the pandemic at sites and facilities, and by adapting to remote work arrangements.

Better Health for All

• A summary of the Company's innovation, global public health strategy, and areas of focus on access and affordability, strengthening health systems and supporting people in crisis, such as:
• Received regulatory approvals for vaccines and medicines to prevent Ebola Virus Disease and treat Tuberculosis and HIV respectively—including the first-ever complete, long-acting injectable HIV treatment regimen—while further expanding access to our technologies for vulnerable populations in low- and middle-income countries.
• Collaborated with global experts to develop or improve three surgical tools used during fistula surgery aimed to provide high-quality instrumentation to increase patient comfort, maximize surgeon visibility, and improve safety for both.
• Committed USD$50 Million to support frontline health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is in addition to an initial USD$250 Million, 10-year commitment made in 2020 creating the Johnson & Johnson Center for Health Worker Innovation in support of one million nurses, midwives, and community health workers. Both commitments were made by the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies and the Johnson & Johnson Foundation.
• Introduced Our Race to Health Equity initiative, a USD$100 Million commitment to invest in and promote health equity solutions for Black people and other communities of color in the United States.

Responsible Business Practices

• Examples of continued focus on responsible business conduct through performance updates on ethics and compliance, human capital management, product quality and safety, environmental health, and responsible supply base, including:
• Investments in the Company's people and its commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) across every segment of the business.
• Digital innovations adopted by the Quality and Compliance functions to drive effectiveness and efficiencies within quality processes across the lifecycle of our products, such as expanding data science partnerships in clinical quality programs to accelerate insights.
• Reduced operational carbon footprint by 45% (since 2010) and increased use of renewable electricity to more than half (54% of total electricity use in global operations comes from renewable sources).
• Diverse suppliers representing more than 10% of total supplier spend.
• Introduction of the Healthy Lives Mission by the Consumer Health business – a USD$800 Million sustainability investment over 10 years that includes (new) goals to advance human health and protect our environment, including reducing plastic use, using more recycled materials, and making packaging easier to recycle or reuse.

Reporting Frameworks and Standards

• The Report has been prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards and this year, we report our performance against GRI's new framework, the Culture of Health for Business (COH4B) practices and metrics.
• The Report includes the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Index, providing disclosures against relevant SASB Standards, and our first qualitative Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) disclosure, building on our responses to the CDP climate questionnaire in previous years.
• The Report also serves as our annual United Nations Global Compact Communication on Progress.

"We are proud to share the progress we made in 2020 and provide further detail around our Health for Humanity 2025 Goals," said Joseph J. Wolk, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Johnson & Johnson. "Johnson & Johnson has a long-standing commitment to transparency and accountability which we have applied to our corporate citizenship and sustainability ambitions by setting goals and sharing our progress. As the world's largest healthcare company, we have a unique opportunity to change the trajectory of health for humanity and our 2025 Goals serve to deliver long-term value creation for all of our stakeholders."

As previously announced, Johnson & Johnson will hold an ESG Investor Update Webcast on June 23, 2021 at 8:00 a.m. ET to provide an update on ESG priorities and performance, including highlights from the Report. Investors and other interested parties can pre-register for the webcast and submit questions in advance by visiting: https://investor.jnj.com/esg-update. The event will open with webcast materials which will be made available starting at 4:30 p.m. ET on June 22, 2021. Participants may also submit questions ahead of the webcast to HealthforHumanity@its.jnj.com.

About the Health for Humanity Report

Our Health for Humanity Report provides an annual accounting of our progress toward Our Purpose and serves as our primary source of annual disclosure on our performance and progress on the Company's Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) priorities. The 2020 Report is available now at https://healthforhumanityreport.jnj.com.

About the Health for Humanity 2025 Goals

Johnson & Johnson's comprehensive set of Health for Humanity 2025 Goals represent an ambitious next step in the Company's purpose to blend heart, science and ingenuity to profoundly change the trajectory of health for humanity. The set of 21 Goals focus on our corporate citizenship and sustainability efforts where we believe we can achieve the greatest impact, reflecting our commitment to advance a healthier world where people and communities can thrive. Learn more at www.jnj.com/caring.

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: the Company's future ESG performance, strategy, goals and commitments. 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: 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, 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 health care reforms; trends toward health care cost containment; changes in behavior and spending patterns of purchasers of health care products and services; financial instability of international economies and legal systems and sovereign risk; increased scrutiny of the health care industry by government agencies. 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 3, 2021 including in the sections captioned "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" and "Item 1A. Risk Factors," in the Company's most recently filed Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and the Company's subsequent 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.

 

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SOURCE Johnson & Johnson

FAQ

What is Johnson & Johnson's stock symbol?

The stock symbol for Johnson & Johnson is JNJ.

When was the 2020 Health for Humanity Report released?

The 2020 Health for Humanity Report was released on June 9, 2021.

What are the new goals announced in the 2020 Health for Humanity Report?

The report details new Health for Humanity 2025 Goals focusing on health equity and community impact.

How much is Johnson & Johnson investing to support health workers?

Johnson & Johnson is committing $50 million to support frontline health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Which standards does the Health for Humanity Report comply with?

The report complies with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), and Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) standards.