Merck Releases 2021/2022 ESG Progress Report

Merck released its 2021/2022 Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Progress Report, highlighting the company’s performance across four areas: access to health, employees, environmental sustainability, and ethics and values.

The report highlights several achievements in the ESG field from the past year. In the access to health category, the company noted that it committed 91.5 million doses of its HPV vaccines to Gavi-supported countries through 2025. Due to the expansion of manufacturing facilities, the company plans to double the supply of the vaccine in the coming years.

The report noted that Merck achieved greater-than 99% pay equity between male and female employees in 2021. This standard also occurred among diverse employees in equivalent positions, and this achievement is included in the employee section of the ESG report.

The report also notes that in the environmental sustainability section, Merck plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025. The company has already reduced greenhouse gas emissions in 2021 by 9% from a 2019 baseline. In the area of ethics and values, Merck notes that it has maintained 100% compliance with regulatory requirements for active incident monitoring, risk/harm analysis, and on-time notification of data breaches.

Merck’s full progress report can be read here.