By Kevin Nelson, BD Chief Procurement Officer

BD recently hosted our first-ever Supplier Climate Action summit, designed to help support key suppliers as they set science-based greenhouse gas emissions targets and take steps to help reduce emissions across the healthcare industry. More than 450 suppliers were in attendance from various industries including packaging, metals, contract manufacturing, etc., along with customers, industry & sustainability experts, and passionate BD associates.

This diverse range of attendees underscored the importance of cross-industry collaboration in addressing the urgent challenges posed by climate change and highlighted the power of partnership across the value chain.

I’m really excited about the progress we’re making (embedding sustainability into early stages of product development) and I’m really excited to invite all of you [suppliers] on this journey with us – I’m sure you have great ideas; you’re seeing things in other industries that we could bring to med tech – so we’re excited to accelerate our progress from here on out”.
— Beth McCombs, EVP and Chief Technology Officer

Here are some key takeaways from the conversation:

• Customer expectations around sustainability are increasing around the world – it is now considered one of the fundamentals that companies must deliver on in addition to patient safety and product quality, said Tony Ezell BD’s EVP, President for the Americas and Chief Marketing Officer.
• Emissions reduction targets are being implemented across healthcare – from hospitals to their suppliers, and MedTech manufacturing suppliers alike. The only way to reach these targets is through collaboration – and today, networks are evolving to support this work across the value chain - from healthcare providers through to customers. “An example of collaboration is the Charme Initiative, which is about creating models of how we collaborate across healthcare delivery systems, manufacturers, etc. in order to share ideas and best practices.” - Steven Chyung, Senior Vice President, Chief Supply Chain and Procurement Executive, Kaiser Permanente
• Suppliers looking to start on this journey need to establish clear carbon targets and respective measurement. “We have a dashboard that shows our financials – from a global, regional, country level all the way down to local level. And in that same dashboard, we show carbon emissions and progress against targets. You have to make it as measurable as the rest of the business to also steer it as part of the business.” - Katharina Tomoff, SVP Global ESG, DHL Supply Chain.

As part of BD’s 2030+ corporate sustainability goals and our recognition by the Science Based Target initiative, we’ve committed to ensure that 75% of our suppliers (by emissions) set science-based, or science-based-aligned targets by 2028.

The summit provided an opportunity for suppliers to come together and address common challenges in calculating and reporting Scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions. As Tom Polen, Chairman, CEO and President, explained, “Today we ask that our suppliers join us in taking action and setting your own science-based targets by 2028 so we can work together to meaningfully reduce emissions.”

“No one company can do it alone. That’s why we’ve spent considerable time defining our journey, then stepped back and thought deeply about how we can help you, our key partners on your journey.”
— Maureen Mazurek, Chief EHS & Sustainability Officer

We know that it’s important to meet our stakeholders where they are today, which is why we continue to develop and update guidance, steps, tools and resources that guide them along the journey of setting emissions targets. By forming strong, collaborative relationships, we believe we can magnify our impact on carbon emissions reductions.

BD is a signatory of the White House HHS Climate pledge and the UN Race to Zero, the largest alliance dedicated to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 or sooner. For more information about BD’s 2030+ corporate sustainability goals, and resources for suppliers, check out our FY23 Together We Advance Corporate Sustainability report.

Donna Drumond, SVP, Chief Expense Officer and Chief Sustainability Officer, Northwell Health speaks as part of our “Partnering across the value chain to decarbonize healthcare” discussion with customers and suppliers