FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J., June 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX), a leading global medical technology company, today issued its 2020 Sustainability Report, highlighting significant achievements in environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors that supported the company's 2020 Sustainability Goals – a five year strategy that concluded in 2020. This report marks a milestone for the company's ESG goals, while setting the foundation for new commitments and initiatives that address unmet societal needs, as well as drive improvements across the organization through 2030.  

"We have been consistently recognized for our leadership in corporate social responsibility and innovation," said Tom Polen, chairman, CEO and president, BD. "The approach we took to our 2020 goals has enabled us to make a significant impact on critical global health care needs — especially this year, as we enabled diagnosis, treatment and vaccination for one of the greatest health care challenges in generations. We are driving innovation to serve the entire health care continuum, from discovery to diagnosis, to the process of care, to the treatment of disease, and activating new solutions to minimize our environmental footprint. We are making it a priority to celebrate our differences while challenging each other to continue advancing our own culture of inclusion, and we are speaking up to address systemic inequities.

"These achievements in our 2020 focus areas form a strong foundation that we will build upon over the next decade. As we communicate our 2030 sustainability vision, we will continue to demonstrate how an ethical and sustainable company can drive growth while supporting our communities — and society — for generations to come."

In 2015, BD launched a five-year sustainability strategy, focusing on four key areas that supported the company's ambitions between fiscal years 2015 and 2020, while addressing priority health needs aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and shared value creation. The strategy is driven by the company's purpose – advancing the world of health™ – and provides the framework for how BD manages, and makes an impact on, the most relevant ESG issues for the company and its stakeholders. 

• Innovation: contributing to more sustainable health care systems by improving outcomes, reducing costs and protecting patients and health care workers.
• Access: supporting health system improvements in emerging and developing economies and reaching vulnerable populations globally.
• Efficiency: working across the value chain to reduce environmental impacts and create positive social impact.
• Empowerment: advancing a purpose-driven culture through workforce and community engagements.

Significant Achievements and Highlights from this year's report include:

• Innovation: Over the past five years, BD has evolved its portfolio through two transformational acquisitions—CareFusion in 2015 and C.R. Bard in 2017. These acquisitions expanded BD's product and solution offering and BD subsequently leveraged its international network to broaden access of the acquired portfolio. Today, BD has leadership positions across many foundational areas in health care. For example, approximately 90% of all U.S. hospital inpatients receive care using a BD device and approximately 70% of all U.S. acute hospitals have connectivity to a BD data platform.
  
  In August 2020, BD was recognized for its fourth time in six years by Fortune magazine and named to its "Change the World List" for the company's extensive efforts in helping fulfill critical health care needs during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the launch of an emergency use authorized SARS-CoV-2 test on the company's BD Veritor^™ Plus System, a rapid point-of-care antigen test system with a simple, digital display that returns results in 15 minutes; as well as the production of the BD SARS-CoV-2 Assay for the BD MAX™ Molecular Diagnostic System, a real-time PCR test intended for the qualitative detection of nucleic acid from SARS-CoV-2 in nasal, nasopharyngeal, oropharyngeal swabs or saliva samples, also under emergency use authorization. BD also significantly ramped production of its injection devices for the COVID-19 vaccination campaigns. The company recently announced that it reached the 2 billion injection device milestone for orders globally and has shipped more than 900 million around the world. Additionally, for the sixth year in a row, BD was named to the Clarivate Top 100 Global Innovators list in 2020, honoring the most innovative companies in the world.
  
  Access: The company has been a pioneer in forging partnerships with leading health agencies and non-government organizations (NGO) to raise awareness of critical health challenges around the world, including the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in low- and middle-income countries. The launch of a Massive Open Online Course, educating participants in the use of diagnostics related to AMR, has reached 13,000 people in more than 100 countries and is available in six languages. BD has also equipped more than 70 labs in 19 countries across sub-Saharan Africa and Asia with diagnostic equipment and informatics solutions to help aid in the diagnosis of infections and guide physicians to provide appropriate antimicrobial prescribing and use.
  
  In addition, collaboration with international organizations have helped to develop online education and training tools to strengthen health and laboratory systems. Through its partnership with the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), BD has deployed more than 300 Global Health Fellows to laboratories in six countries, which resulted in participating lab assessment scores increasing by at least 46% and as high as 196%. Over the course of the last four years, more than 4,000 nurses have been trained to reduce infusion-related infections among health care workers in China through the company's partnership with Project HOPE.
  
  Between 2015 and 2020, BD expanded the number of facilities and employment in key markets around the globe, providing a deeper understanding of regional health system priorities and practices, and enabling BD to adapt its business strategy to meet those needs. This expansion resulted in emerging market revenue growth of more than $600 million during this time period.
   
• Efficiency: Over the course of five years, BD initiated more than 650 projects related to energy, water and waste efficiency saving $25.6 million and invested $47.5 million in dedicated capital funding for energy, water and waste reduction projects that supported the 2020 sustainability goals. The company reduced scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 58%, exceeding its target of 50%. In addition, the company reduced ozone-depleting substance emissions by 95%, meeting a target of 95%; and reduced water consumption by 53%, exceeding a target of 40%.
  
  In 2020, BD completed 109 projects that contributed to lowering its environmental footprint and conserving natural resources. Water consumption decreased as a result of continued water conservation efforts, exceeding the company's target of 40% reduction of water use (normalized by cost of products sold). Additionally, in 2020, BD became the first company in the health care segment to use electric vehicles (EVs) to deliver products inside the metropolitan area of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The use of EVs helps ensure business continuity and ensure reliable deliveries of product to meet customer needs.
   
• Empowerment: BD is committed to fostering an environment that welcomes and empowers an inclusive and diverse workforce. Over the past five years, the company has established and invested in its teams, processes, policies and programs to embed inclusion and diversity into the core of its business strategy, including the establishment of a Global Inclusion Council and nine associate resource groups to provide professional development opportunities. The company has also implemented a supplier diversity program to ensure its supply base aligns with the diverse customers, communities and markets it serves, and BD is a member of the AdvaMed Board's Inclusion and Diversity Committee and subcommittee.
  
  BD continues its longstanding focus on philanthropy, with BD donating product valued at $53.5 million to international relief agencies from FY 2016 to 2020, and BD and the BD Foundation providing $22.6 million in cash and product donations in FY 2020, including $2.8 million to the COVID-19 pandemic response. In 2020, the company celebrated its 15^th year of the BD Volunteer Service Trip Program, which sends teams of associates to low-resource countries to help strengthen local health systems.
  
  In addition, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the company redoubled its efforts to ensure the safety of associates and business continuity by implementing important safety measures, including institutionalizing the use of additional layers of PPE, redesigning facilities and process flows to minimize potential transmission of the virus, rolling out educational campaigns to modify behavior inside and outside facilities to reduce transmission, and conducting COVID-19 testing in locations where community infection spikes have impacted facilities.

Later this year, BD will announce new sustainability commitments that seek to address and further advance how the company manages risks and opportunities around its most significant ESG issues over the next decade. The strategy focuses on how the company will address climate change through reducing emissions across the supply chain and integrating climate impacts into various parts of its business strategy and decisions, while also addressing the impact of products and resiliency of the supply chain.

The company announced in 2020 its first phase of 2030+ sustainability goals, committing to reduce Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions 46% by 2030 (from our 2019 baseline) and to be carbon neutral across direct operations by 2040. This science-based target is aligned with the 1.5°C global emissions reduction pathway. In addition, BD continues to work with supply chain partners to quantify and reduce Scope 3 GHG emissions. The new sustainability commitments will also seek to strengthen the health of BD's workforce and communities around the world through the lens of well-being and equality for all.

For more information about the company's sustainability goals, view the 2020 Sustainability Report here: https://www.bd.com/en-us/company/sustainability-at-bd.

About BD Veritor™ Plus System and BD SARS-CoV-2 Assay for the BD MAX™ Molecular Diagnostic System
The BD Veritor™ Plus System and BD SARS-CoV-2 Assay for the BD MAX™ Molecular Diagnostic System have not been cleared or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but have been authorized by the FDA under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for use by authorized laboratories. BD SARS-CoV-2 Reagents for BD MAX System have been authorized only for the detection of nucleic acid from SARS-CoV-2, and the BD Veritor System for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2 has been authorized only for the detection of proteins from SARS-CoV-2, not for any other viruses or pathogens. The emergency use of these products is only authorized for the duration of the declaration that circumstances exist justifying the authorization of emergency use of in vitro diagnostics for detection and/or diagnosis of COVID-19 under Section 564(b)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S.C. § 360bbb3(b)(1), unless the declaration is terminated or authorization is revoked sooner.

About BD
BD is one of the largest global medical technology companies in the world and is advancing the world of health by improving medical discovery, diagnostics and the delivery of care. The company supports the heroes on the frontlines of health care by developing innovative technology, services and solutions that help advance both clinical therapy for patients and clinical process for health care providers. BD and its 70,000 employees have a passion and commitment to help enhance the safety and efficiency of clinicians' care delivery process, enable laboratory scientists to accurately detect disease and advance researchers' capabilities to develop the next generation of diagnostics and therapeutics. BD has a presence in virtually every country and partners with organizations around the world to address some of the most challenging global health issues. By working in close collaboration with customers, BD can help enhance outcomes, lower costs, increase efficiencies, improve safety and expand access to health care. For more information on BD, please visit bd.com or connect with us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/bd1/ and Twitter @BDandCo.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements.  Many of these risks and uncertainties are beyond the company's control, including without limitation, challenges relating to economic, competitive, governmental, and technological factors affecting our operations, markets, and products, and other factors listed in our 2020 Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings with the SEC. BD expressly disclaims any undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking statements set forth herein to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof, except as required by applicable law or regulation.

SOURCE BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company)