Reducing our Environmental Footprint CITIZENSHIP

INTEGRATING SUSTAINABILITY INTO BUSINESS OPERATIONS

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Patient health and safety is our absolute priority in manufacturing medical technology. We have a responsibility to ensure the quality and sterility of our devices, as well as their safe delivery. We also understand the importance of caring for our world and its natural resources and focus our efforts on reducing the energy, water, and waste footprint of our operations and products.

Our global Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Policy establishes our performance management system to set goals, measure progress, and integrate sustainability into decision-making. It also addresses climate change — an issue that presents risks and potential disruption for global business.

We strive to incorporate EHS considerations when designing new products, considering impacts throughout the product life cycle from materials to manufacturing, distribution, and disposal. Our Sustainable Packaging Working Group strives to reduce the environmental impact of product packaging while maintaining our rigorous quality standards to ensure products reach customers in perfect condition. Other efforts include increased recycling to divert unusable products from landfills.

Guided by our Environmental Performance Goals, we proactively manage our operational energy use, greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), regulated and non-regulated waste, and water. To continue reducing our environmental footprint, we established new and aggressive FY25 environmental performance goals that will be measured against a FY20 baseline. In addition, we have set a goal to be carbon neutral in our operations by FY30. To achieve carbon neutrality – and ultimately cut our operations carbon footprint by 100% – we will continue to reduce energy consumption, increase our use of renewable and alternative energy, partner in virtual power purchase agreements (VPPA’s) and invest in renewable energy credits (RECs) and carbon offsets.

By the numbers: 

  • Zero net carbon emissions by FY30
  • 100% reduction of total carbon emissions targeted by FY30
  • 50% of renewable electricity used by FY25

ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP — Fiscal Year 2020  (FY20) HIGHLIGHTS

We're committed to reducing our environmental footprint and impact. We surpassed all of our FY20 environmental targets compared to our FY13 baseline, reducing:

  • Energy use by 23%
  • Greenhouse gas emissions by 36%
  • Non-regulated waste by 32%
  • Regulated waste by 13%
  • Water use by 20%

This year we implemented 79 energy conservation projects, generated 76,000 MWh of energy onsite, increased our use of renewable electricity by 9 percent, and committed to going carbon neutral by FY30. Energy projects completed in FY20 will save Medtronic an estimated $2.8 million in operational costs.

We continue to work toward achieving our regulated waste goal, which is at a 1% increase from FY13. In FY18, we reduced our regulated waste by 9% compared to the previous year.

We take a holistic approach to make the world a healthier place. This includes managing the energy we consume, the waste we generate, and the water we use.

In FY18 Medtronic made the following strides:

  • We invested in energy-efficient technology and generated 69,100 MWh of energy on-site through fuel cell and cogeneration systems, including 4,300 MWh of new capacity.
  • We continually look for ways to eliminate waste at our sites to reduce costs and lessen our environmental impact. In FY18, we limited our waste generation to 25,367 metric tons, a nearly 8% decrease from FY17.
  • We proactively take steps to curtail our water use. For example, at our North Haven, CT site, we implemented three projects to reduce potable water use that will save an estimated 24,600 cubic meters of water each year.

Medtronic scientists and engineers follow EHS guidelines when designing new products. This standardised approach incorporates environmental considerations from the start and helps us meet both regulatory requirements and customer expectations. For example:

  • In FY18 we reduced landfill waste by recycling or reusing 171MT of medical sensors from our Nellcor business, which specialises in pulse oximetry devices.

Read a summary of our 2020 corporate citizenship progress
Putting Purpose into Action — Promoting Environmental Stewardship (PDF)

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