2011 CVS Caremark Corporate Social Responsibility Report

76ABOUT THIS REPORTCVS Caremark’s 2011 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report provides an overview of the company’ssocial and environmental commitments, and offers progress updates on the company’s CSR-relatedinitiatives and goals. There may be certain events or activities referenced in this report that were initiatedin 2011 but came to fruition in early 2012. Our 2011 CSR report is our fifth annual publication of this type.We plan to continue reporting on an annual basis.Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)CVS Caremark recognizes the value of universally acceptedstandards for this type of voluntary reporting.The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), one of the mostaccepted frameworks in the world, served as a guidein determining content and performance metrics toinclude in the 2011 Report. We have provided an indexof the GRI standard disclosures, including performanceindicators, in this report. It can be found on pp. 78 - 81.Based on the criteria for GRI G3 Guidelines and ApplicationLevels, the 2011 CVS Caremark CSR Reportmeets requirements for Level B. More information onGRI is available at www.globalreporting.org.Materiality AssessmentAs part of this year’s reporting process, we commissioneda third party to help us identify and prioritize thecompany’s material issues.The process for determining materiality involved gatheringinputs from various internal and external sources,and then evaluating and prioritizing the issues foundbased on their relevance and importance to the companyand significance to stakeholders. The sourcesused in this process included:• Internal documents and plans that articulated thecompany’s business objectives and strategies,policies, programs and risk factors• Communications prepared by the company forexternal release• Feedback and insights from employees andcustomers• Shareholder communications and any actions filedagainst the company• Traditional media coverage• Online and social media outlets• Industry trade groups• General trending issues of relevanceAfter reviewing these sources, we compiled a matrix ofissues and prioritized each one based on the followingcriteria:• The importance of the issue to and potential impacton CVS Caremark• The importance of the issue to and potential impacton our stakeholders• The amount of reasonable control CVS Caremark hasover a particular issue2011 Corporate Social Responsibility Report