ATLANTA, USA – Newell Brands Inc. announced yesterday the release of its annual 2021 Corporate Citizenship Report, Creating Shared Value. The third-annual report showcases Newell Brands’ progress on its corporate citizenship goals to create more sustainable products, reduce operational impacts, prioritize the success and growth of employees and invest in communities.
Newell Brands is proud of its achievements over the past year while facing the longer-term impacts of COVID-19, including global supply chain pressures, inflation, labor shortages and ongoing health and safety concerns.
“We are delighted to share our 2021 Corporate Citizenship Report and I’m pleased announce our goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040 for all Scope 1 and 2 emissions across our portfolio. This commitment symbolizes a significant step forward in our efforts to do our part to combat climate change,” said Ravi Saligram, Newell Brands President and CEO. “We dramatically improved employee engagement and continued driving our diversity, inclusion and belonging programs, including making progress on overall representation of people of color in the United States. I applaud our 32,000 employees for embracing corporate citizenship as a key tenet of our culture and making Newell Brands a force for good in the world.”
In 2021, Newell Brands conducted its first materiality assessment to better understand the corporate citizenship topics most important to stakeholders. Based on the materiality assessment, Newell Brands shifted to four corporate citizenship focus areas which guide the Company’s reporting, including Products, Planet, People and Communities. Across the four areas, accomplishments highlighted in the report include:
Products
- Introduced the Innovation Operating Model, a strategy for product innovation that incorporates new tools for sustainable design.
- Added a new 2025 packaging goal to use at least 20 percent non-virgin (recycled content) in plastic packaging for Newell manufactured goods.
- Seventy designers participated in the Earth Day Design Jam and created concepts for turning waste into new products.
- Nearly 83,000 pounds of Home Fragrance products have been collected and recycled through a partnership with TerraCycle since it launched in 2020.
Planet
- A cross-functional Climate Task Force was established to create a climate policy and establish a plan for carbon neutrality. Newell Brands committed to carbon neutrality by 2040 for all Scope 1 and 2 emissions across the global portfolio.
- Piloted an eight-week energy management program across eight sites that resulted in the identification of 6.2 million kWh of excess energy that could be reduced.
- Thirteen facilities around the world submitted projects for consideration during the Newell Brands Sustainability Excellence Awards program.
People
- Improved the employee engagement score to 75, in line with global benchmarks and a significant improvement from prior employee engagement surveys.
- Achieved representation of 35 percent women among the direct reports of Business Unit CEOs and center-led Functional Heads as part of the Company’s diversity, inclusion and belonging goals.
- Launched three new leadership development employee programs around the world.
- Reported a .62 global recordable incident rate that is considered a world-class level among manufacturers.
Communities
- Donated more than 15 million products worth nearly $17 million to support communities in need.
- Through the Newell Brands Charitable Foundation, supported 14 nonprofits in eight communities across the United States as part of the Foundation’s Local Impact Grant Program.
- Created the company’s first matching gift program where employees can donate to three different organizations and the funds are matched dollar-for-dollar by the Newell Brands Charitable Foundation.
- Established philanthropic goal to invest $1 million in our communities through the Local Impact Grant Program by 2025.
Newell Brands understands that operating sustainably and giving back are critical to the long-term success of the company. The report provides the company’s latest disclosures against the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) frameworks. More information on these and other sustainability accomplishments can be found in the full report and Executive Summary. Visit NewellBrands.com to learn more about the Company’s corporate citizenship programs.
