Cardinal Health Announces Goals to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

DUBLIN, Ohio (September 23 2021)—Cardinal Health announced it has established a goal to reduce Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 50% by 2030.

“We deliver products and services to improve the lives of people every day and our approach to doing business must help protect our planet for future generations,” said Mike Kaufmann, CEO at Cardinal Health. “We’re operating sustainably and responsibly so we can care for our people and our planet—today, and tomorrow.”

Cardinal Health’s announced Scope 1 and 2 targets align with what the latest climate science deems necessary to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement—limiting global warming to well-below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Further, the company is assessing its Scope 3 emissions and working towards validation of a comprehensive Scope 1, 2 and 3 science-based target by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

“As a global company, we can help create a healthier, more sustainable world,” said Sarah Wills, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Cardinal Health. “I’m proud of the significant steps Cardinal Health is taking in setting and reporting on our enterprise GHG targets, as well as reducing our impact on the environment.”

Fiscal Year 2021 Corporate Citizenship Report

This enterprise GHG announcement is associated with the release of Cardinal Health’s annual Corporate Citizenship Report today, which highlights certain of the company’s ESG priorities and ongoing focus on creating a diverse, inclusive workforce. 

Additional FY21 environmental highlights include:
In 2021, Cardinal Health also announced it will use renewable energy to fully power its global headquarters and its National Logistics Center in Central Ohio, beginning in early 2022. Cardinal Health was one of Central Ohio’s three founding partners of Smart Columbus Energy, an initiative of Smart Columbus designed to support the decarbonization of large businesses in the region, which pools customers’ energy demands and allows procurement energy from Ohio-based wind and solar projects. 

Continued expansion of the company’s Total Waste Management (TWM) initiative, previously initiated in FY20 to simplify and standardize waste management. In FY21, Cardinal Health extended TWM throughout its pharmaceutical distribution, specialty and global logistics businesses, and as a result: 

• Increased landfill avoidance by 750 tons—about as much as four locomotives. 
• Increased use of Waste-to-Energy, generating 412k kWh, enough to fuel 39 homes for a year.
• Published a report using the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) as a guide. Read the Cardinal Health TCFD report here.

Representation goals for 2030
As previously announced, Cardinal Health has set goals of increasing leadership representation of women and racial and ethnic populations among its workforce by 2030:

• Globally, increased representation of women at the manager level and above to 48% (up from 40%). 
• In the U.S., increased representation of African American and Black employees at the manager level and above to 11% (up from 5%). 
• In the U.S., increased representation of Asian, Latinx, Indigenous and all other ethnically diverse groups at the manager level and above to 23% (up from 17%). 

Cardinal Health is continually refining its recruiting, development, succession planning and retention practices to ensure equitable access and opportunity. For more information on these Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) goals, click here. Download the full Corporate Citizenship Report and learn more about Cardinal Health’s corporate citizenship efforts here.

Visit cardinalhealth.com for more information.