Abbott 2004 Global Citizenship Report - Abbott Laboratories

Exceptional PerformanceWe focus on exceptional performance – a hallmark of Abbott peopleworldwide – demanding of ourselves and each other because our workimpacts people’s lives.Environmental, Health and Safety PerformanceAbbott measures the performance of our operations notjust by their contribution to the business, but by theirhealth, safety, energy and environmental records. We havea policy that states we will operate in a manner that isprotective of human health and the environment, and wehave long established annual targets for improving ourenvironmental, health and safety (EHS) performance.In 2004, we set five-year performance goals to helpreduce water usage, carbon dioxide emissions, waste,serious employee injuries and commercial vehicle fleetaccidents. These are the areas in which we can generatethe greatest environmental and financial benefits, and weintend to report each year on our progress.Environmental data from all of Abbott’s global facilitiesis included in this report. More detailed information onEHS programs and data is available at www.abbott.com/citizenship/ehs.Water UsageGoal: Reduce Water Usage by 15 Percent by 2010,Normalized by SalesAccess to water is a concern to Abbott and to many of ourstakeholders. Approximately 20 percent of our manufacturingsites are located in water-stressed areas, according to astudy completed in 2004 for Abbott by SustainAbility, a2015105Total Water Intake(billion gallons)17.014.3UK-headquartered consultancy. By 2025, based on currentmanufacturing locations, the study projects that two-thirds ofAbbott’s plants will be located in water-stressed areas.Abbott’s largest users of water are our bulk pharmaceuticaland nutritional manufacturing facilities.We are implementing a comprehensive water managementstrategy that goes beyond our past focus on discharge to abroader approach to overall water usage. As part of thisapproach, we will do the following:• Develop objectives, standards and key performanceindicators for water usage.• Identify best practices within our operations.• Perform an analysis of key products throughout theirmanufacture, distribution and use.• Prioritize implementation at locations in water-stressed areas.• Understand key water trends and stakeholderexpectations, and modify Abbott’s global strategy asappropriate in order to meet our goal.In 2004, the amount of water used by our facilities worldwidedecreased by 16 percent on an absolute basis and whennormalized by sales. The major factor driving this change is areduction of water used in our bulk pharmaceutical business.The spinoff of most of Abbott’s hospital products businessalso contributed to the decrease.1000800600400200Total Water IntakeNormalized by Sales(gallons per $1,000 sales)86372602003 200402003 200422