Reducing Our Footprint

INTEGRATING SUSTAINABILITY INTO BUSINESS OPERATIONS

Patient health and safety is our absolute priority in manufacturing medical technology. We have a responsibility to ensure the quality and sterility of our devices, as well as their safe delivery. We also understand the importance of caring for our world and its natural resources and focus our efforts on reducing the energy, water, and waste footprint of our operations and products.

Our global Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Policy establishes our performance management system to set goals, measure progress, and integrate sustainability into decision-making. It also addresses climate change — an issue that presents risks and potential disruption for global business.

We strive to incorporate EHS considerations when designing new products, considering impacts throughout the product life cycle from materials to manufacturing, distribution, and disposal. Our Sustainable Packaging Working Group strives to reduce the environmental impact of product packaging while maintaining our rigorous quality standards to ensure products reach customers in perfect condition. Other efforts include increased recycling to divert unusable products from landfills.

Guided by our 2020 Environmental Performance Goals, we proactively manage our operational energy use, greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), regulated and non-regulated waste, and water. In FY20, we will launch new goals, committing us to further reduce the environmental impact of our operations by 2025.

ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP — Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20) HIGHLIGHTS

We're committed to reducing our environmental footprint and impact. We surpassed all of our FY20 environmental targets compared to our FY13 baseline, reducing:

Energy use by 23%
Greenhouse gas emissions by 36%
Non-regulated waste by 32%
Regulated waste by 13%
Water use by 20%

This year we implemented 79 energy conservation projects, generated 76,000 MWh of energy onsite, increased our use of renewable electricity by 9 percent, and committed to going carbon neutral by FY30. Energy projects completed in FY20 will save Medtronic an estimated $2.8 million in operational costs.

Read a summary of our 2020 corporate citizenship progress
Putting Purpose into Action — Promoting Environmental Stewardship (PDF)

Featured Stories

Waste Not, Want Not

The delivery of healthcare has an unfortunate environmental cost: medical waste. Learn how Medtronic is working to reduce, reuse, and recycle the resources we use to make and distribute our medical devices.

READ ABOUT WASTE REDUCTION

EVERY DROP COUNTS

Water scarcity is a growing global concern. Conserving water for future generations must be a priority for everyone and that includes us. Learn how Medtronic is making a difference, one drop at a time, one day at a time.

FIND OUT HOW MEDTRONIC CONSERVES WATER

Industrial building with Medtronic signage

Saving Energy, Protecting the Planet

As a global citizen, Medtronic is constantly striving to shrink our environmental footprint by reducing how much energy, water, and other resources we use.

LEARN HOW WE ARE REDUCING OUR ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT

MEDTRONIC ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP IN ACTION

Current efforts range from large, enterprise-wide corporate sustainability initiatives like energy reduction or building an onsite nitrogen generator, to smaller, volunteer-led environmental stewardship efforts at local sites.

LEARN ABOUT OUR INITIATIVES

Medtronic CEO Reinforces Commitment to Sustainability

Omar Ishrak participates in Business Roundtable #EmbracingSustainability campaign, challenging America's top CEOs to share how they are advancing sustainability.

WATCH THE VIDEO