Pfizer’s Journey Towards a Better Tomorrow: 2023 Impact Report
March 14, 2024
Pfizer’s track record in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) space is strong. The company’s ESG efforts align with its commitment to achieving its Purpose and supporting the communities it serves.
“As Pfizer embarks on our 175th year of operations as one of the world’s most trusted and innovative healthcare companies, we are determined to outdo yesterday by remaining committed not only to advancing our purpose, but to being a good corporate citizen,” said Dr. Albert Bourla, Pfizer Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
Pfizer is proud to have played a role in developing and manufacturing some of the most impactful medical innovations of the past 175 years. However, the company’s purpose, “breakthroughs that change patient’s lives,” extends beyond discovering, manufacturing, and delivering innovative vaccines and medicines.
In its 2023 Impact Report, Pfizer highlights the company’s multifaceted approach to reducing its environmental footprint, promoting social well-being, and upholding strong governance standards. From striving to accelerate climate action to helping address healthcare disparities, Pfizer’s initiatives reflect its unwavering dedication to making a positive impact on the world.
Pfizer’s progress is detailed in the 2023 Impact Report.
Also, please refer to Pfizer’s 2023 Impact Report for additional information regarding the metrics included herein, including the footnotes within the Performance section.
Striving to Advance Innovation for Patients
As the global health landscape continues to evolve, so does Pfizer, making innovation one of its greatest tools as the company aims to uncover new combinations, designs, and advances to help address an array of challenges.
Pfizer strives to address the needs of patients through its extensive portfolio of medicines and vaccines with a keen eye toward the future. Looking ahead, the company’s current pipeline as of January 30, 2024, consists of 1121 programs in development (from Phase 1 through registration) and reflects how Pfizer empowers its scientists to work efficiently and with an emphasis on quality. The company works to reduce cycle times, while continuing its focus on safety and quality, to help get its breakthroughs to patients faster, potentially addressing more unmet needs.
Empowering Change Through Partnerships
As part of Pfizer’s ESG efforts, it is working to advance health equity. Pfizer recognizes the importance of working together with external organizations to combine strengths, innovative solutions, and resources to help bridge the health equity gap and drive equitable access to its medicines and vaccines.
For example, building on its longstanding engagement with Patient Advocacy Organizations, in 2023, Pfizer launched a new initiative: the Patient Advocacy Leadership Collective (PALC). PALC supports patient advocacy organizations worldwide by providing access to essential health resources and developmental tools to help advocacy organizations build capacity and optimize their work with patient communities.
Furthermore, in partnership with humanitarian aid organization Direct Relief, The Pfizer Foundation2 launched a new grant program in 2023 that provided grants to 19 U.S. safety-net community healthcare providers to improve access, increase outreach and education, and promote screening, testing, and treatment for vaccine-preventable infectious diseases among medically underserved populations.
Finally, in May 2023, Pfizer and Thermo Fisher Scientific joined forces aiming to help increase access to next-generation sequencing-based testing for lung and breast cancer patients in over 30 countries across Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
From striving to expand access to medicines and vaccines in underserved communities to supporting healthcare infrastructure development, Pfizer showcased its dedication to addressing healthcare disparities worldwide.
Ongoing Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Race, ethnicity, age, and gender all impact how people respond to treatment, so it is essential that clinical trial studies reflect the diversity of the potential recipient population. Pfizer has taken many steps over the years to help ensure diverse representation in clinical trials, including reinforcing the importance of diversity in trials among its clinical study teams. Notably, in 2023, Pfizer published a framework used to set enrollment goals to help ensure participant diversity in sponsored clinical trials in the U.S.
The company is focused on creating opportunities to advance Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) across its workforce, those with whom Pfizer does business, and society at large. Pfizer’s 2025 Opportunity Parity Goals aims to achieve global workforce parity of 47% for women at the Vice President level and above by 2025, and workforce parity of 32% for U.S. minority representation at the Vice President level and above by 2025.* As of December 2023, the company has made progress on these goals, reporting that its representation for women at the VP level and above was 44.8% and representation for U.S. minorities at the VP level and above was 30.5%.3
Journey Towards a More Sustainable Future
In addition to expanding access to medicines, and creating opportunities to advance DEI, Pfizer emphasized its efforts to reduce its environmental footprint and contribute to a healthier planet.
Pfizer continues to make progress on its environmental sustainability goals with a focus on climate action. In 2023, the company delivered a 13.9% reduction in Scope 1 & 2 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions compared to the 2019 baseline. This reduction is part of the company’s ambitious goal to achieve the Net Zero Standard by 2040. By 2040, Pfizer aims to decrease its company GHG emissions by 95% and its value chain emissions by 90% from 2019 levels.
“We take seriously our obligation to conduct ourselves in a way that makes the world a better place. Discovering, manufacturing, and delivering innovative vaccines and medicines is only part of what we contribute to society,” said Dr. Albert Bourla, Pfizer Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “This Impact Report and our accomplishments give me great pride. I am excited about what we will accomplish going forward.”
Pfizer aims to make a positive impact on society and remains committed to advancing its efforts in 2023 and beyond.
Forward-looking statements included herein are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. We encourage you to read our reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the sections captioned “Risk Factors” and “Forward Looking Information and Factors that May Affect Future Results,” for a description of such substantial risks and uncertainties. These reports are available at pfizer.com and the SEC’s website at sec.gov. Please also refer to our 2023 Impact Report, which is available on our website at pfizer.com.
[1] Includes Seagen data.
[2] The Pfizer Foundation is a separate legal entity from Pfizer Inc. with distinct legal restrictions
[3] Colleagues who select “Do Not Disclose” or have not filled in their profile are not included in the denominator or numerator for gender or racial / ethnic representation. Gender representation is calculated globally. Puerto Rico is excluded within racial / ethnic representation but included in the Global Gender Representation.
*These aspirational goals are not quotas and Pfizer continues to make employment decisions based on qualifications.