Boehringer Ingelheim increases commitments to sustainable development, to impact 50 million people through social innovation

Ingelheim - 03 November 2021 - Today, on the occasion of the global One Health Day, Boehringer Ingelheim shares an update on its strategic approach to sustainability and more specifically, the MORE POTENTIAL pillar, one of the three pillars of its ‘Sustainable Development - For Generations’ framework. One Health exemplifies the value of a holistic, collaborative approach to addressing and improving the health of humans, animals and the planet, acknowledging the intersecting connection between them. It is a principle that is firmly engrained in MORE POTENTIAL and ‘Sustainable Development – For Generations’.

The MORE POTENTIAL pillar aims to create value for patients and communities through the following commitments:  

• Positively impact 50 million people in vulnerable communities, through empowering employees, partners, and innovative social entrepreneurs
• Co-create solutions and business models that help communities be economically sustainable, inclusive, and healthy
• Intensify efforts in the areas of human rights, ethics, diversity and inclusion

The MORE POTENTIAL pillar of the ‘Sustainable Development - For Generations’ framework is focused on providing the best conditions for the people within the Boehringer Ingelheim organization, communities and partners along its value chain, to enable them to reach their full potential. It empowers them to be changemakers and to have an impact on societal challenges. It further evolves Boehringer Ingelheim’s commitments and significantly increases the company’s impact on health, society, and environmental issues, in alignment with the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

Michael Schmelmer, CFO & Member of the Board of Managing Directors with responsibilities including HR: “Our 52,000+ people are the driving force of our work. Enabling our employees to reach their full potential also allows us to increase the impact we strive to create through our work, particularly in collaboration with our business partners.”

The ambition of the company’s flagship initiative “Making More Health” is to enable collaboration to co-create healthy, inclusive, and sustainable communities. The focus is to engage communities that are being marginalized and focus on topics from areas such as health, education, employment prospects, and living and working conditions. To reach this objective, Boehringer Ingelheim partners with Ashoka, the largest global network of social entrepreneurs, enabling changemakers to co-create innovative healthcare solutions and deploy them to vulnerable communities. To date, over 110 social entrepreneurs have been supported globally, with another 140 to be added until 2025.

Making More Health’s support of one such changemaker, Access Afya, a primary healthcare social enterprise delivering affordable effective healthcare in Kenya, is already showing results. It provides new digital solutions in patient care, such as apps to measure blood pressure and pop-up clinics utilizing data to create greater understanding of patient needs in under-served communities. Access Afya also advocates for financial aid for patients, and supports the prevention of non-communicable diseases, as well as creating solutions to tackle the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Boehringer Ingelheim has a strong commitment to its people, which includes providing a safe, healthy, and fulfilling work environment, one in which talent can develop and employees excel, empowered through engagement opportunities. Recent examples include a company-wide mental health awareness and support program, and participation in the EU’s ‘Lighten The Load’ campaign to further emphasize the importance of health at work, especially during remote working situations. Boehringer Ingelheim’s commitment to the objectives of the MORE POTENTIAL pillar also impacts collaborations with business partners along the value chain. For example, through its updated supplier code of conduct, reflecting the most advanced expectations held by patients, government, and society.

The company also continuously increases efforts in the areas of human rights and ethics, using an approach in accordance with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Furthermore, the company’s commitment to Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) continues to intensify. Boehringer Ingelheim’s approach aims at nurturing a diverse, open, collaborative, and inclusive culture, and continuously implementing D&I principles throughout our value chain. For example, the company extensively educates and trains leaders and employees on unconscious bias and inclusive behaviors and language, which is one of the steps to ensure all employees, customers, patients and stakeholders feel included, heard and valued.

With new initiatives continuously being created and existing ones evolving and expanding, Boehringer Ingelheim expects MORE POTENTIAL to continue to gain momentum as the company moves towards its 2030 sustainability commitments.

MORE POTENTIAL is one of three pillars within Boehringer Ingelheim’s ‘Sustainable Development – For Generations’ framework. It is accompanied by two more pillars: MORE HEALTH, aimed at enabling better health for people and animals, and MORE GREEN, driving the reduction of natural resources and carbon footprints.

Continuing a journey that began more than 135 years ago, Boehringer Ingelheim is building on its track record in addressing unmet health needs, increasing the company’s ambitions to tackle global health and societal challenges. The strategic approach also focuses on the strength and value of collaboration and long-term partnerships to contribute towards achieving a healthier and more sustainable future for society.

About ‘Sustainable Development – For Generations’

Boehringer Ingelheim operates to serve the needs of human and animal health. This makes the company’s position unique in addressing intersecting sustainable development challenges. The ‘Sustainable Development – For Generations’ framework has three pillars: ‘More Health’, ‘More Green’ and ‘More Potential’. Through these pillars, Boehringer Ingelheim implements 20 initiatives around the globe to drive the company’s contributions and impact. These are in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. To succeed in reaching these goals, the company has renewed its committed approach to working in partnership, calling for the multi-stakeholder collaboration needed to tackle complex global challenges.