Pfizer is Making Continued Progress on its ESG Strategy: 2022 ESG Report

Pfizer strives to be a best-in-class organization built on a strong foundation of Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) commitments and ambitions.

To advance our Purpose in a way that is consistent with our core values, we are committed to action that builds trust and delivers on our commitment to quality and integrity in all we do, so that we can better support the communities that we aim to serve.

2022 was a year in which the company continued to execute on its core strategy and made progress towards its ambitious ESG goals. In 2022, more than 1.3 billion patients were treated with Pfizer’s medicines and vaccines*. The company’s global presence and scale help allow it to make a broad patient impact around the world.

Pfizer’s progress is detailed in the 2022 ESG Report. Read here.

The 2022 report shows how Pfizer’s ESG strategy helps advance a more sustainable, responsible, and patient-centric business model and contributes to the company’s long-term value creation.

Turning ESG Ambitions into Actions

“At Pfizer, our commitment is anchored to our six ESG priorities: product innovation; equitable access and pricing; product quality and safety; diversity, equity, and inclusion; climate change; and business ethics,” said Dr. Albert Bourla, Pfizer Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “We look forward to continuing to engage with colleagues and other stakeholders to hear how we can continue to enhance our impact, both within and outside of Pfizer.”

To help drive continued innovation needed to help improve patient outcomes, Pfizer advanced its scientific pipeline and strengthened its research and development by investing approximately $11.4 billion in internal research and development programs in 2022.

Beyond its R&D investments, Pfizer is making strides to help close the health equity gap and address the challenges that currently limit or prevent access to medicines and vaccines. In May 2022, the company launched An Accord for a Healthier World, an initiative created to provide all of Pfizer’s innovative medicines and vaccines available in the U.S. or the European Union, on a not-for-profit basis, to 1.2 billion people in 45 lower-income countries. To better align with unmet patient needs, Pfizer significantly expanded this initiative in January 2023 to include the full portfolio of products for which the company has global rights.

The Accord is only one of the many ways Pfizer strives to make a global impact. The company also continued to build upon its longstanding support for humanitarian emergency relief around the world. Effective March 14, 2022, Pfizer began donating profits of its Russian subsidiary to the Pfizer Foundation^[2] for direct humanitarian support to the people of Ukraine, in addition to the company’s ongoing humanitarian response efforts in the region. Pfizer, through The Pfizer Foundation, has committed over $30 million to support these efforts.

In other humanitarian emergency settings, Pfizer colleagues around the world have worked collaboratively with non-governmental organizations to help provide support to communities during times of significant challenge. In 2022, this included Hurricane Fiona, Hurricane Ian, the Afghanistan earthquake, and the flooding in Pakistan.

Finally, the company continues to make progress on its environmental sustainability journey with a focus on climate action. Pfizer is proud to build on more than 20 years of climate action to reduce both its company and value chain GHG emissions. In 2022, Pfizer delivered an eleven percent reduction in Scope 1 & 2 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions compared to the 2019 baseline. The company also announced its intention to join a collective action initiative led by Manufacture 2030, Activate, to support the decarbonization of GHG emissions in the pharmaceutical value chain.

The Journey Ahead

Looking ahead, Pfizer announced its aim to achieve the voluntary Net-Zero Standard by 2040, ten years earlier than the timeline described in the standard.

As part of this commitment, Pfizer aims to reduce its company GHG emissions by 95 percent and its value chain GHG emissions by 90 percent from 2019 levels through accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels and engaging suppliers to catalyze equivalent action.

In recognition of the company’s ambitious climate change efforts, Pfizer was included in Corporate Knights’ 2023 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World list.

When it comes to its efforts to advance Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Pfizer aspires to achieve global workforce parity of 47% for women at the Vice President level and above, and workforce parity of 32% for U.S. minority representation at the Vice President level and above by 2025.

Everything we do at Pfizer is done first and foremost with patients in mind. To be most effective in serving patients and understanding the patient experience, we are intentional about engaging patients, along with caregivers and advocacy groups, in our work to discover, develop and bring to market our medicines and vaccines.

“We remain committed to keeping patients as our North Star, applying ethical decision-making frameworks to our work, embedding ESG into our corporate strategies, and continuing to be a force for good in the world,” said Dr. Bourla.

*Patient counts are estimates based on multiple data sources. See footnotes within the Performance section of the 2022 ESG Report for more details.

[1] See footnotes within the Performance section of the 2022 ESG Report for more details: Pfizer.com/ESG_Report

[2] The Pfizer Foundation is a separate legal entity from Pfizer Inc. with distinct legal restrictions.